DRC: what we know about the attack which claimed the life of the Italian Ambassador

“A cowardly attack”

Italian President Sergio Mattarella denounced the “cowardly attack” that claimed the life of his ambassador. “The Italian Republic is mourning these servants of the state who lost their lives in the line of duty,” President Mattarella added, lamenting the “act of violence” perpetrated as they moved in. car in a convoy of the Monusco, the Blue Helmets mission in the DRC.

Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, who was in Brussels for a meeting with his European counterparts, immediately announced his early return to Rome.

Charles Michel, the President of the European Council, said he was “shocked” by “the attack” and the “lives lost, including those of the Italian ambassador and a soldier”. “The EU will remain alongside the DRC and its people” for “security and peace,” he added on Twitter, offering his condolences to the family in Italian.

Luca Attanasio, Italian diplomat who loved Africa

Luca Attanasio, 43, had been ambassador to the DRC since 2018, having arrived in the country two years earlier as head of mission, according to his official biography. He entered a diplomatic career at the end of 2003, after studying business at the Luigi-Bocconi University of Milan. He started in the Department of Economic Affairs, before working on African issues and international cooperation. Abroad, he was first appointed head of the economic and commercial section at the Bern embassy (2006-2010), then consul general in Casablanca, Morocco (2010-2013). After a stint in Rome, he also became a counselor at the Italian Embassy in Nigeria in 2015.

“He was very well known and loved. We are dismayed ”, reacted on Facebook Alessandro Fermi, the president of the regional council of Lombardy, region of the north of Italy where he was born on May 23, 1977, in Saronno, near Milan.

Emanuela Del Re, former Italian Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, paid tribute to “a man endowed with extraordinary courage, humanity and professionalism”. “I remember her contagious smile, her class, her great knowledge of African issues,” added Ms. Del Re, who had worked with the ambassador on the emergency repatriation of a “very sick” nun.

In October 2020, Luca Attanasio received the Nassiriya Peace Prize “for his commitment to peace between peoples” and “for having contributed to the realization of important humanitarian projects by distinguishing himself by his altruism, his dedication and its spirit of service in support of people in difficulty ”. “Everything in Italy we take for granted is not in the Congo, where unfortunately there are still so many problems to be solved,” he said at the time. Luca Attanasio was married and the father of three daughters. His wife, Zakia Seddiki, originally from Casablanca, is the founder and president of an NGO, Mama Sofia, which works in the most difficult regions of the DRC by helping young mothers and their children.

This attack is a bitter reminder to the international community of the often forgotten conflicts which have ravaged the eastern part of this vast country for twenty-five years. Many Congolese internet users reacted strongly. “The murder of the Italian ambassador, his driver and his bodyguard eloquently illustrates the level of deterioration of the security situation in the east of the country and the distress facing our fellow citizens who live in this part of the country, ”writes this Internet user. “Shocked by the brutal death of the Italian Ambassador, we offer our condolences to his family. We are offended by all these killings in eastern DRC! We don’t want one more death! The whole world must get involved to make these horrors stop, ”another published.

North Kivu, sanctuary for armed groups

“The Congolese Armed Forces are combing to find out who the attackers are,” the Congolese army said. In this region of northern Goma, capital of the North Kivu province plagued by violence, armed groups have reigned supreme for more than twenty-five years. This is where the Virunga National Park is located, a natural, tourist and threatened gem. It has become the theater of conflicts, where these armed groups compete for control of the wealth of the soil and the subsoil.

Near the scene of the tragedy are also the strongholds of the Rwandan Hutu rebellion FDLR and the Congolese Hutu militias Nyatura. Congolese M-23 rebels are also located in the area, according to an expert from the Kivu Security Barometer (KST).

Created in 1925, Virunga National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This reserve extends over 7,769 km², from Goma to the territory of Béni, between mountains and forests. The park is guarded by 689 armed rangers, at least 200 of whom have been killed in the line of duty, according to its officials. The latest incident dates back to early January, when six rangers were killed in Virunga Park. Luca Attanasio is the second serving European Ambassador shot dead in the DRC, after Frenchman Philippe Bernard, killed on January 28, 1993 during riots that led to looting in Kinshasa, under the reign of ex-President Mobutu Sese Seko.