Congo to investigate deaths of U.N. experts

Westmoreland County native among dead

Associated Press

BENI, Congo — Congo’s government said Wednesday it will investigate the deaths of an American and a Swedish expert for the United Nations and their interpreter, whose bodies were found in a shallow grave Monday after the team disappeared more than two weeks ago.

Meanwhile, Sweden said it was opening a murder investigation.

American Michael Sharp — who has roots in Westmoreland County — Swedish national Zaida Catalan and their interpreter Betu Tshintela went missing on March 12 along with driver Isaac Kabuayi and two motorbike drivers in Central Kasai province while looking into recent large-scale violence and alleged human rights violations by the Congolese army and local militia groups.

It was the first recorded disappearance of international workers in the oncecalm Kasai provinces, where the Kamwina Nsapu militia has been fighting security forces since last year.

Both sides have been accused of massacres and atrocities.

More than 400 people have been killed and more than 200,000 displaced since government troops killed the militia’s leader in August, according to the U.N.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said the world body would conduct an inquiry into the deaths, saying the cause had not yet been determined. He called on Congo to do the same.

Mr. Sharp, 34, a Mennonite from Kansas who grew up in Scottdale, Westmoreland County, and Ms. Catalan were “killed senselessly,” the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley, said in a statement.

Mr. Sharp had been in Congo for five years, with an enviable network of rebel commanders and local leaders, most of whom he had met in church.

He was known to be a stickler in his investigations. Jason Stearns, a former member of the Group of Experts who now runs the Congo Research Group at New York University, described Mr. Sharp as “dispassionately passionate,” devoted to his work but not given to displaying his emotions.

Sweden’s national police said it has initiated a murder investigation into Ms. Catalan’s death, and Sweden’s prime minister urged Congo to investigate.

On Tuesday evening, there was a candlelight vigil for the two in Goma, the town in eastern Congo where they were both based.

The U.S. State Department on Wednesday issued a travel warning for Congo, citing “ongoing instability and sporadic violence” in many areas.

Congo government spokesman Lambert Mende said authorities would look into the deaths and seek the U.N. experts’ missing Congolese colleagues.

Mr. Mende said Congolese authorities also will look into other recent violence in Central Kasai province.