UN Secretary-General Confirms Death of Two UN Experts in Congo

Two bodies UN experts have been killed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres confirmed on Tuesday.

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) – Guterres confirmed the two bodies found by peacekeepers of the UN mission in Congo belong to the missing UN experts, a statement said.

“I am deeply saddened to confirm that the remains discovered by peacekeepers from the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) on 27 March outside of the city of Kananga in the Congolese Kasaï-Central province are those of Michael Sharp (United States) and Zaida Catalan (Sweden), members of the Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo missing since 12 March 2017,” statement said on Tuesday.

Guterres said the cause of deaths will be determined after more thorough examination and expressed hope that the Congolese authorities will conduct a full investigation of the incident.

The United Nations will conduct its own inquiry and, if determined that the experts died as a result of criminal actions, the Organization will try to “ensure that justice is done”.

On March 13, media reported that a citizen of United States Michael Sharp and a Swedish citizen Zaida Catalan working for the United Nations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo were kidnapped along with their local interpreter.