(United Nations) The NGO Human Rights Watch called on Monday in a statement to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres for “a credible international investigation” into the 2017 murder in the Democratic Republic of Congo of two UN experts, an American and a Swedish.
Posted at 3:55 p.m.
This request for an investigation into these murders and the role of the Congolese authorities, which must also be pushed by the United States and Sweden, is urgent, adds HRW in its press release, judging that the 51 death sentences at the end of January in Democratic Republic of Congo, mainly targeting militiamen, leaves too many questions unanswered.
“Nearly five years later, there are still more questions than answers about who bears ultimate responsibility for the murders of UN investigators,” said Thomas Fessy, a researcher working for HRW.
PHOTO FACEBOOK PAGE OF MICHAEL SHARP
Michael Sharp, of American nationality, and Zaida Catalan, Swedish, had disappeared on March 12, 2017, while they were in Kasaï to investigate mass graves linked to an armed conflict.
“The past failure of the UN, as well as the United States and Sweden, to investigate the death” of the two experts “was a cynical betrayal”, he denounces. “But that shouldn’t prevent them from now conducting a credible investigation into the chain of command behind the killings,” he said.
Michael Sharp, of American nationality, and Zaida Catalan, Swedish, had disappeared on March 12, 2017, while they were in Kasaï to investigate mass graves linked to the armed conflict which had broken out after the death of customary chief Kamuina Nsapu, killed by the security forces. Their bodies were found two weeks later.
According to the official version, they were executed by militiamen from the Kamuina Nsapu sect. But in June 2017, a report submitted to the UN Security Council considered that this double murder was a “premeditated ambush” and did not exclude the involvement of members of state security.