Italian Ambassador to Congo Assassinated in Attack on UN Convoy

Italy’s ambassador to Democratic Republic of Congo, his bodyguard and a driver from the World Food Programme (WFP) were killed on Monday when their convoy was attacked in the east of the country, Italy and the United Nations said.
The convoy was attacked at about 10:15 a.m. (0815 GMT) in an attempted kidnap near the town of Kanyamahoro, about 25 km (15 miles) north of the regional capital Goma, a spokesman for the Virunga National Park told Reuters.
The deaths of the ambassador, Luca Attanasio, 43, Italian military policeman Vittorio Iacovacci, 30, and a Congolese driver, whose name has not been released, were confirmed by the Italian government in a statement.
It was with great shock and immense sorrow that I learned of the death today of our Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo and of a Carabinieri policeman,” Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said in a statement.
“The circumstances of this brutal attack are still unclear and no effort will be spared to shed light on what happened.”
Di Maio was in Brussels for a European Union meeting when he heard the news and cut short his visit to head back to Italy.
According to the ministry website, Attanasio had been Italy’s head of mission in Kinshasa since 2017 and was made ambassador in 2019. He was married and had three young daughters, according to his Facebook page.