Congo to investigate deaths of US, Swedish experts

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.

Sweden said it was opening a murder investigation, and the U.N. Security Council strongly condemned the killings.

American Michael Sharp, Swedish national Zaida Catalan and their interpreter Betu Tshintela went missing 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.

A U.N. Security Council diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the experts were investigating alleged mass graves.

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

The U.N. Security Council issued a statement Wednesday night saying its members condemned the killings “in the strongest terms” and also expressed concern at “the unknown status of the four Congolese nationals accompanying them.” Council members called on the Congolese government “to swiftly and fully investigate these crimes and bring the still unidentified perpetrators to justice” and backed a U.N. inquiry, stressing that attacks targeting civilians “may constitute war crimes under international law.”

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.