U.N. Officials Among 6 to Disappear in Democratic Republic of Congo
U.N. Officials Among 6 to Disappear in Democratic Republic of Congo<br />By STEVE WEMBI and DAN BILEFSKYMARCH 15, 2017<br />KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo — Two United Nations officials<br />and four Congolese citizens have disappeared in a conflict-ridden region of the Democratic Republic of Congo where army soldiers have been accused of murdering civilians, the United Nations mission there has said.<br />The officials — Michael Sharp, an American, and Zahida Katalan, a Swede — were traveling in the Kasai region on Sunday with three Congolese drivers<br />and a translator when they disappeared, the United Nations mission said on Monday.<br />The officials, who are in Congo as part of a peacekeeping mission, had traveled to Kasai to investigate possible human rights violations after reports<br />that government soldiers there had killed at least a dozen unarmed civilians, including children.<br />The Congolese government said in a statement on Monday<br />that the United Nations officials had traveled to the province of Kasai-Central by motorcycle and were thought to have been abducted by unidentified forces near the village of Ngombe, in the Bukonde area.<br />Footage shared by human rights activists appeared to show soldiers killing unarmed civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo.<br />The European Union, the United Nations, and the United States have called on the Congolese government to investigate<br />the footage, which rights activists say is evidence of war crimes committed during a counterinsurgency operation.
