© ALEXIS HUGUET
UN peacekeepers recover bodies on the outskirts of Virunga National Park near the village of Kibumba, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the Italian ambassador, his bodyguard and a driver were killed on 22 February 2021
The police of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) announced on Tuesday that they had arrested in the east of this country the alleged perpetrators of the attack in which the Italian ambassador Luca Attanasio was killed on February 22, 2021.
“Mr. Governor, I present to you three groups of criminals who have bereaved the city of Goma. Among them, the group which attacked the convoy of the Italian ambassador”, declared the police commander of the province of Goma. North Kivu, General Aba Van Ang, during a ceremony in Goma, its capital, filmed by some journalists.
According to him, the man suspected of having shot the ambassador, responding to the name of “Aspirant”, “is on the run”. But “here there is Bahati and the second in the group is Balume”, he added to the address of the governor, Lieutenant General Constant Ndima Kongba, in front of six young men seated on the ground, surrounded by armed police.
“We know where Aspirant is, we hope to find him,” added the police chief.
When “Aspirant” shot the ambassador, “they were very sorry” because the criminals intended to kidnap the diplomat and demand a million dollars for his release, he said.
According to him, the group to which these men belong – arrested in circumstances he did not specify – is also responsible for other recent kidnappings in the region, in particular of members of humanitarian organizations.
The two other “groups” presented to the governor are accused by the police of having committed various murders and heinous attacks.
“I call for justice today: that these criminals be punished in relation to all that they have caused to the population”, declared the military governor of North Kivu.
The Italian ambassador to the DRC, Luca Attanasio, 43, died on February 22, 2021 after being shot and wounded when the World Food Program (WFP) convoy in which he was traveling was ambushed north of Goma, on the outskirts of Virunga National Park.
His Italian bodyguard, Carabinieri Vittorio Iacovacci, and a Congolese WFP driver, Mustapha Milambo, were also killed.
In June, Italian justice opened an investigation against a Congolese official of the WFP who, according to Italian media, had taken care of security measures during this trip.
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