By informing FARDC Brigadier General Emmanuel Lombe of their itinerary, which would be standard practice, did Zaida Catalan sign her death warrant and that of her colleague Michael Sharp in the Democratic Republic of Congo?
"The U.N. Security Council urged the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Thursday to cooperate in the investigation into the killing of two UN experts and the mass graves found in the Kasai region." (VOA)
The Voice of America/Africa presser then segues to a statement written by France (the penholder for DRC) that calls on Kinshasa and opposition parties to reach an agreement allowing a presidential election to move forward before the end of 2017.
Tying the investigation of the murders of Zaida Catalan and Michael Sharp to politics in the same document is telling. One must revisit the narrative that began in August 2016 in Kasai Province when Mwami (Chief) Kamwina Nsapu was killed to understand why.
According to Radio Okapi, the Coordinator of the Congolese Human Rights Observatory (OCDH) in Central Kasai, Hubert Ngulandjoko, condemned the killing of "militia leader" Kamwina Nsapu. Overnight, the Mwami who was organizing against the regime of President Joseph Kabila and fighting for social justice became a militia leader and terrorist in press reports. His body was desecrated in opposition to traditional beliefs.
The two murdered experts, commissioned by the UN secretary-general to document the violence in central Kasai province, were investigating the killing of the Mwami and the discovery of more than 40 mass graves in the region. Since August more than 400 villagers have died in what is now known as the uprising of Kamwina Nsapu.
Who is doing the killing?
The deaths of Sharp and Catalan mirror those of the 400 they were investigating.
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