There were the first arrests for the death of the Italian ambassador Luca Attanasio and of the carabiniere Vittorio Iacovacci in the Democratic Republic of Congo, last February 22. This was announced by Felix Tshisekedi, president of the EoC and the African Union.
“The investigations continue, some suspects have been arrested: they are being interrogated and behind them there is certainly an entire organization. They are street bandits organized into gangs, they certainly have whoever leads them. We have to go back to this chain. We have the collaboration of the Italian services and we are working hard on it », he said in an interview with Africa News. The president said he was shocked by the death of the ambassador he knew “personally”.
“It was dramatic because I personally knew this ambassador. His death shocked me a lot. It motivates me more to look for suspicions and above all to put an end to these pockets of violence in the east of the country ». The diplomat was killed in an ambush north of Goma, near the Virunga National Park and the border with Rwanda, along with his bodyguard and the driver, Mustapha Milambo. Wounded in the abdomen, Attanasio died shortly after at the UN hospital in Goma.
Among the decisions taken by the authorities following the ambush is to report any movement by a diplomat within Congolese territory at least one week before the move.