In the headlines: death of the Italian ambassador in the DRC, Luca Attanasio

Audio 03:00

The coffin of the Italian Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo Luca Attanasio, in Limbiate, near Milan, Italy, on Friday February 26, 2021. © Claudio Furlan / LaPresse via AP

By: Kamanda Wa Kamanda

6 min

Publicity

Almost all the newspapers have headlined on Monday's murder of Luca Attanasio, Italian Ambassador to the DRC.

The event took place in the heart of Virunga Park, in North Kivu.

An attack on a WFP convoy in which was the diplomat who was fatally injured before dying in hospital in Goma;

his bodyguard and the Congolese driver died on the spot.

Recurrent insecurity in the east, the blood of the Italian ambassador is added to that of thousands of Congolese

 " headlines the newspaper

Le Potentiel

.

For this daily, this murder of a diplomat in the east of the DRC " 

puts on the table of the President of the Republic the thorny issue of insecurity in this part of the national territory

 ".

Indeed, continues this newspaper, since he has been in power, Félix Tshisekedi always promises to get personally involved in the return of peace throughout the Congolese territory.

 Alas!

The more days go by, the more the security situation worsens, 

”we can still read in the columns of Le

Potentiel

.

“ 

The provincial authorities were completely ignorant of Luca Attanasio's agenda

!

 "Exclaims, for its part,

Forum des As

, another daily for whom" 

this murder is reviving the debate on respect for the Vienna Convention on the part of certain diplomats.

And this newspaper continues,

we see that in the DRC, for some time, certain diplomats have taken liberties with the Vienna Convention

 ”.

According to the

Forum des As

newspaper

, according to this treaty which governs diplomatic and consular relations, a diplomat cannot move within the country to which he is accredited, without first informing foreign affairs, then local authorities.

The daily

La République

, for its part, affirms that “ 

the investigations accuse the FDLR

!

 "For the moment, we can not assume the conclusions while the investigators neglect the slightest hypothesis and the smallest detail, writes this newspaper before adding:" 

However, the first elements collected and put on the public square by a dispatch of the Presidency of the Republic (cited by 7/7), point out the Rwandan Hutu rebels of the FDLR.

These accusations

, the newspaper continues,

are based on the security map of the province which indicates that the location of the murder in Kibumba is listed as the bastion of these negative forces

.

"

For its part, the weekly

The Post

wonders: did the Rwandans kill the Italian ambassador in the DRC?

For the Congolese government, writes this newspaper, it is almost established that the FDLR killed Luca Attanasio.

This is categorically refuted by the Rwandan rebel movement which points the accusing finger at the FARDC or the Rwandan army which control the sector, continues

The Post

which notes that it is the word of the officials against that of the rebels.

Who to believe and why?

The Post

still wonders

before deciding: “ 

If the FDLR killed, then it was Rwandans who killed on Congolese soil.

 "

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