UN asked to probe foreigners’ killing in Congo
COPENHAGEN: Sweden’s prime minister said on Wednesday the UN and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) must investigate after three bodies, including those of Swedish and American investigators with the UN, were found in central Congo.
Stefan Lofven said he learned with “great sorrow and dismay” that the bodies of Swedish national Zaida Catalan, American Michael Sharp and their interpreter Betu Tshintela were found this week.
Lofven said that Catalan worked “tirelessly for peace and justice,” adding Sweden was “naturally ready to assist” in investigating their death.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres vowed that the world body would do “everything possible” to bring justice in the case.
“Michael and Zaida lost their lives seeking to understand the causes of conflict and insecurity in the DRC in order to help bring peace to the country and its people,” the UN chief said.
“I trust that the Congolese authorities will conduct a full investigation into this incident. The UN will also conduct an inquiry. In case of criminal acts, the will do everything possible to bring justice in the case.”
The two victims were kidnapped by unidentified assailants on March 12 along with four Congolese accompanying them in KasaiCentral province. Government spokesman Lambert Mende said the woman’s body had been decapitated.
The remote region has been plagued by violence since midAugust, when government forces killed Kamwina Nsapu, a tribal chief and militia leader who had rebelled against Congolese President Joseph Kabila’s central government.
The violence has spilled over from Kasai to the neighboring provinces of Kasai-Oriental and Lomami, leaving at least 400 people dead.
Several days before the two UN experts were kidnapped, a Uruguayan peacekeeper was shot and injured in the same region.
On Monday, Congolese national police accused rebels of massacring 39 of their officers in Kasai.
The victims were killed in an “ambush” early Friday as they were traveling in trucks, and buried in a mass grave by supporters of the late Kamwina Nsapu, a police spokesman said.
Jordan Anderson, Africa analyst for IHS Markit, cited reports that all 39 had been beheaded.
The Kamwina Nsapu militia “is increasingly taking violent and hostile action against anyone it sees as being outsiders, interfering in the Kasai,” he said.
The UN, the EU and African Union (AU) on Tuesday expressed “grave concern” over the spiralling violence in Kasai.
The organizations “condemn this despicable act and express their condolences to the families of the victims,” they said.
They called for an “urgent response from the country’s political leaders” to curb the violence and “urge the defense and security forces to exercise restraint in the efforts to restore order in the Kasai.”
The UN Security Council voted on Wednesday on extending its mission in the DRC, the largest and costliest UN peacekeeping mission in the world.
GARASBALEY: Tears fill Sahra Muse’s, a victim of the Somalia drought, eyes as she stares at her severely malnourished son, his thin arms crossed over his bloated stomach.
Before he succumbed to hunger, 7-year-old Ibrahim Ali had helped his mother herd the family’s 30 cows on their farm in Toratorow, a village in Lower Shabelle region. But the family lost all they had to the growing drought.
The 32-year-old Muse walked for three days to reach this windswept camp outside Somalia’s capital earlier this week, leaving behind her other three children and their father.
“Life is becoming so hard. We