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The day after the brutal assassination of the Italian ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Luca attanasio, from the 30-year-old carabiniere Vittorio Iacovacci and the driver of the convoy World Food Program in which they traveled, Mustapha milambo, new details and new versions arise from the authorities and subjects involved in what, at this moment, is considered a attempted kidnapping. While the Congolese presidency has sent an emissary to Italy to personally deliver a letter to Mario draghi, ensuring the maximum commitment to the search for the truth and with a team of investigators already sent to the city of Rubber, who until now were considered the main suspects of the triple murder, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (Fdlr), denies any involvement, asking the Congolese authorities to shed light on the incident and point the finger at the military forces of Congo and Rwanda. the return of the bodies, which are already on their way, is scheduled for 11 pm at the airport in Ciampino, while the autopsies of the bodies of the two Italians will be carried out tomorrow at the Institute of Legal Medicine of the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic. In trying to establish whether all security protocols have been respected, a UN humanitarian official explains that the path in which the attack took place “is validated without escort but with the obligation of a convoy of at least two cars “.
THE INVESTIGATIONS – According to the latest updates provided by DRC investigators who are investigating the case, the attackers who attacked at 10.15 a.m. Kibumba, a few kilometers from Goma, the capital of North Kivu, “Did they have six in possession of five Kalashnikov and a macheteRead a note from the governor of South Kivu province quoted by the site Cas-info. “The attackers forced the people on board to get off and follow them to the park after killing one of the drivers to create panic,” they add. After that, they kidnapped three other members of the expedition.
In a statement, the Congolese Presidency confirms that it was the kidnappers who murdered Ambassador Luca Attanasio and Carabiniere Vittorio Iacovacci, shooting them at point-blank range, thus excluding the assassination hypothesis by the Congolese security forces during the shooting with the gang of kidnappers. “Alerted, the eco-guards and the Fardc (the Congolese Armed Forces, ed) pursued the enemy’s heels. At 500 meters, the kidnappers shot at point-blank range the bodyguard, who died on the spot, and the ambassador, wounding him in the abdomen, ”the statement reported by Cas-Info. However, Attanasio did not die instantly, they explain: “He died of his injuries, an hour later, in the hospital in Monusco Rubber “.
The Italian ambassador, they explain, he was already in rubber last Friday: “The ambassador arrived in Goma on Friday, February 19, 2021 at 10.30 am aboard the Monusco registered 5Y / Sim jet. At 09:27 on Monday, February 22, a convoy of two World Food Program vehicles left Goma for the municipality of Di Compound, in the territory of Rutshuru ”.
Meanwhile, in addition to the investigation by the ordinary prosecutor, the military in Rome has also opened a file on the episode, as confirmed by the military prosecutor in Rome. Antonio Sabino, which explains that it is a mere fact sheet, a due act when a military man was involved. “We are waiting to examine the first information to understand if there are aspects of our competition,” Sabino said, adding that “at present they do not seem recognizable.”
The Carabinieri del Ros, who arrived in the Congo by delegation of the Rome Prosecutor’s Office, will acquire the records of the testimonies collected by local investigators from the people present at the scene of the ambush. Among them was the story of WFP official Rocco Leone, the Italian survivor. Among the activities that the Carabinieri del Ros will carry out in the Congo, by delegation of the Prosecutor of Rome, also weapons used by the rangers he intervened at the scene of the ambush, also acquiring information about the weapons delivered to the body that is in charge of guarding the Virunga Park. According to a reconstruction, there would have been a shootout between the park rangers and the kidnappers and it is at this stage that the two Italians would have lost their lives, although today the Congolese presidency stressed that it was the attackers who shot at both target-targets.
Since Farnesina They ask for “the utmost caution in giving space to media rebuilds which could be approximate or even misleading. In the next few hours, an information from Minister Di Maio is expected in which all the information currently available will be delivered to Parliament, ”a note reads.
THE DISMISSAL – The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (Fdlr), immediately the main group suspected of having attacked the convoy in which the Italian diplomat was traveling, issued a statement in which deny any responsibility and asked the Congolese authorities and Monusco, the UN mission in the country, “to shed light on the responsibilities of this ignoble murder instead of resorting to rash accusationsThis despite the fact that witnesses cited by local sources said that the attackers were talking to each other in kinyarwanda, a Rwandan language spoken by the Hutu refugees, while the prisoners spoke in Swahili.
Next, the Fdlr launches strong accusations against the Congolese and Rwandan army, of which they are adversaries, even posing the hypothesis of the participation of the military in the murder of the three: from “concordant sources”, they say, it seems that the convoy was attacked in an area known as the “three antennas”, near Goma, on the border with Rwanda, “Not far from a post of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Fardc) and the Rwandan army of the Rwandan Defense Forces. The responsibility for this ignoble assassination rests with the ranks of these two armies and their sponsors who have formed an unnatural alliance to prolong indefinitely the looting of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
THE DARK SPOTS ON SAFETY – However, there are still many other unanswered questions and all refer to the poor security precautions taken in one of the most dangerous areas of the country, destroyed by war and land of numerous paramilitary groups, armed gangs me poachers unscrupulous. First: because the small group (only seven people) traveled without escort, without bulletproof vests and without armored vehicle in an area where the kidnapping of civilians and foreigners is frequent? Who gave the authorization to travel without an escort? Who declared that path was “safe”?
Since yesterday, the different protagonists of this story blame each other. A few hours after the news of the murder of the ambassador, the carabiniere and his driver, the World Food Program stated in a note that “previously it had been authorized trip on that road without a security escort”, Specifying that the path has already been patrolled before precisely to provide a risk assessment, in a very dangerous area of the country. Version also confirmed by intelligence sources who later specified that the green light came from the local government. But the denial comes from Goma: the Congolese Police, support local security forces, she had not been informed of the visit of the Italian ambassador in the area of the national park of Virunga with a convoy from the World Food Program, he told the Dpa the general of the national police Abba van, saying he was “surprised” that the diplomat had gone to the region without a police convoy. Next, an internal UN source specified that the road “is validated without an escort but with the obligation of a convoy of at least two cars.” Just to clarify, the Farnesina He immediately asked the UN for a detailed report on the incident.
THE LETTER TO ITALY – At a meeting held by a crisis committee chaired by the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo it was decided “to send a team of the Presidency to Goma” today “to follow the ongoing investigations and report periodically, to the head of state. The Presidency of the Republic undertakes to periodically take stock of the evolution of the investigation that has just begun at the initiative of the president, “the statement said.
And the head of state Felix Antoine Tshisekedi, has decided to send a “su emissary bring one personal letter to the Italian Prime Minister ” Mario draghi, he writes Cas-Info. And today he will visit Zakia SeddikiAmbassador Attanasio’s wife: “The President of the Republic will go to the ambassador’s residence to meet his wife, as is the African tradition,” explained sources from the Italian embassy in Kinshasa.
THE ATTANASIO FAMILY – Luca Attanasio’s father, Salvatore, He told theAnsa that the son was not worried but happy about the mission he had to fulfill: “He told us what the objectives were. He has always been a person turned towards others, he has always done good and has always projected himself towards high ideals, capable of involving anyone in his projects. One thing that might seem confusing to me, it made me positive. It was honest, correct, never a disagreement. “
Salvatore Attanasio then describes the terrible moments after having known the news of the death of his son: “In thirty seconds the memories of a lifetime passed, the world collapsed on us – he continued – These are unfair things, which should not happen. For us life is over. But now we have to think about the granddaughters, these three creatures had meadows in front of them with such a father. They still don’t know what happened. His mother, Luca’s wife, is also devastated by pain ”.
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