Italy’s ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Luca Attanasio, and two other people have been killed in an attack on a United Nations convoy in eastern DRC, the Italian foreign ministry said in a statement.
According to the statement, the Ambassador and the two soldiers were killed while traveling in a convoy of MONUSCO, the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Part of the statement reads: “It is with deep sorrow that the Foreign Ministry confirms the death today in Goma of the Italian Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Luca Attanasio, and of a policeman from the Carabinieri.
“The ambassador and the soldier were traveling in a car in a convoy of Monusco, the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” it said.
Luigi Di Maio, Italy’s foreign minister said he learned the tragic news while in Brussels for a Foreign Affairs Council meeting.
According to the ministry website, Attanasio had been Italy’s head of mission in Kinshasa since 2017 and was made ambassador in 2019.
