The news of the armed attack on a World Food Programme convoy near Goma, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which left three people dead, including the Italian ambassador, Luca Attanasio, on Monday 22 February, provoked sadness and indignation from the EU, which on the same day expressed its condolences and solidarity with the ambassador’s relatives and with Italy.
The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, said he was “shocked by the attack and at the lives lost, including those of the Italian ambassador and a soldier”. And to add: “Security and peace must be ensured. The EU will stand by the DRC and its people”.
The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, speaking at the end of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, stressed that this “sad news” had “had an impact on our meeting”. Castigating yet another “cowardly attack”, he expressed, as did the European ministers, his “most sincere condolences to the Italian Minister Luigi di Maio”.
The European Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, said he was “deeply saddened that persistent brutality in Northeast #DRC has claimed three more lives, including that of Ambassador Attanasio”. On his Twitter account, he said: “I call for an end to violence that has brought so much misery to this region”. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)