U.N. Officials Among 6 to Disappear in Democratic Republic of Congo
By STEVE WEMBI and DAN BILEFSKYMARCH 15, 2017
KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo — Two United Nations officials
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.
The officials — Michael Sharp, an American, and Zahida Katalan, a Swede — were traveling in the Kasai region on Sunday with three Congolese drivers
and a translator when they disappeared, the United Nations mission said on Monday.
The officials, who are in Congo as part of a peacekeeping mission, had traveled to Kasai to investigate possible human rights violations after reports
that government soldiers there had killed at least a dozen unarmed civilians, including children.
The Congolese government said in a statement on Monday
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.
Footage shared by human rights activists appeared to show soldiers killing unarmed civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The European Union, the United Nations, and the United States have called on the Congolese government to investigate
the footage, which rights activists say is evidence of war crimes committed during a counterinsurgency operation.