[Reuters]At around 10:00 a.m. on Feb. 22, seven men, some armed, stepped onto a road in eastern Congo and forced two cars belonging to the United Nations World Food Programme to stop. The attackers fled, leaving Italy's ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Luca Attanasio, mortally wounded and his bodyguard dead. Take a surveyWhile much of eastern Congo has been beset by violence in recent decades as rival militias fight government troops and each other for control of land and resources, attacks on aid convoys have been relatively rare. The WFP said criminal activity combined with political instability has had an impact on its capacity to deliver assistance in eastern Congo in the last decade. Last year, 42 aid workers were kidnapped in eastern Congo, an increase of 35% on 2019, making Congo the second most dangerous country to be an humanitarian, according to data from the International NGO Safety Organisation.

Source: Standard Digital May 26, 2021 10:15 UTC