 For more videos on people's struggles, please subscribe to our YouTube channel. They did not know when they woke up that morning at 8 a.m. ready to go travel and look at humanitarian projects, they did not wake up thinking that they would be dead that day. And many communities every day don't wake up thinking that they would be dead. But they are being killed because in the DRC there is so much wealth needed for modern day technology that as long as there is death in the DRC we will continue to have resources pilfered out of the DRC at a very low cost and the Congolese people will not benefit from the wealth. On February 22nd, Italian Ambassador Luca Atanasio was killed in the North Kewu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Italian paramilitary officer Bittorio Iacovacci who was travelling with the ambassador and their Congolese driver Mustafa Malambo were also killed in this attack. They were travelling in a world food program convoy when the attack took place. According to the UN agency, the delegation was travelling from Goma to Ruchuru to visit a world food program school feeding program when the incident took place. The murder of a foreign diplomat has drawn international attention to the turmoil in the DRC. However, the region regularly witnesses such incidents in which Congolese people lose their lives. On February 22nd, Ambassador Luca Atanasio was assassinated alongside his bodyguard Bittorio Iacovacci and the world food program staff driver Mustafa Malambo. This definitely sent shockwave in the Congo around the world, mainly around the world that a diplomat was killed. In the DRC people were quite upset about the situation but reminded everyone who spoke to them that this is the reality of the Congolese for the past two decades. Over six million Congolese have died in the conflict in the DRC. A conflict that started in 1996 where two of Congo's neighbors invaded the Congo and left quote-unquote officially around 2002 and 2003 but they continue to support proxy rebel militia groups. Why are they supporting these proxy rebel militia groups? It's because it gives them a reason to come into the Congo anytime they wish. These two neighbors are US allies on the so-called war on terror. So no matter what they do in the DRC, no one holds them accountable. But now to the killing. Why was the Italian ambassador in North Kivu? The Italian ambassador was visiting some of the world food program activities in the east. He was in South Kivu and then he flew on Friday to North Kivu so that he could start the visit on Monday, February 22nd when he was killed. And he visited different locations looking at some of the food programs that are taking place in some of the schools in the area and unfortunately lost his life. Now Italy actually funds the world food program in terms of years of dollars for projects that the world food program is undertaking in the DRC. So as an ambassador he was going through that information that we have is a follow proper protocol. He was there with the United Nations mission Monusco. They had a meeting where there was a clearance for security that Monday saying that he could travel without the escort and unfortunately as he traveled he was killed. So when you even look at the photos of the circulating online of his body you can see that he didn't have a helmet, he didn't have a bulletproof vest. You can see also the UN vehicle, the world food program vehicles were not bulletproof vehicles so he did not have the adequate security for the area. So someone provided clearance, right? The UN provided a clearance. They have a system called UNDSS for protocol of movement of diplomats and this information is shared with the communist government and all the entities concerned with movement of diplomats. Now when this killing took place the communist government put out a statement. The Ministry of Interior put out a statement where in less than 24 hours they pretty much behaved as if they solved the case. In that statement they named the perpetrator of that violence. They say that the people who committed this crime were the FDLR rebel group in acronym but this rebel group is connected to Rwanda. Those are Rwandan soldiers and those are some of whom committed the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 and have been in the DRCC since 1994. The group today through all the information that exists widely available publicly is around 120 to about 400 rebels. This 120 to 400 rebels are not being able to be stopped, neither by the United Nations which has the largest peacekeeping mission in the world. We have over 20,000 soldiers in the DRC, neither by the Congolese army and neither by the invasions of the DRC by its neighbors Rwanda and Uganda because Rwanda has been in Congo and Uganda have been in the Congo. So why aren't they stopping them? I think one is lack of political will but for the situation why I'm bringing that up is to show the confusion even in the communist government around the situation because after they put out this statement 48 hours after putting out the statement the Congolese government retracted the statement. That state now that the person who signed the press release with the information that the FDLR are the one responsible for this heinous crime were not authorized to make this such statement and this is not the position of the Congolese government but this is also the situation of these deaths. It's not the first time people are dying in Congo. Even after the dates on February 23rd and even yesterday on February 24th over 17 Congolese have been killed in the same area. It's not an international price, in local price it exists. 17 Congolese have died. Unfortunately we may hear also today more of that in the same region that the people in the region of North Kivu and South Kivu living in constant fear for their life. You leave the house you can be killed any day, any time and why are they being killed? The people live on the land that has resources, mineral resources and also a land that is fertile so people are being systematically killed to create fear in the community and being displaced and these killings are happening in front of the Congolese military in front of the United Nations and nothing is stopping the killing. But now with the death of Luca Atanasio there is a discussion globally around what's happening in the Congo but for me I'm not that hopeful. I'm much more a bit pessimistic about what will happen after the investigation but I'm much more cautious because two years ago in 2017 two UN group of experts were killed in the DRC in the region called Kasai. One was American and the other was Swedish Chilean Zaida Catalan and Microsoft. Microsoft was the American and Chilean was Zaida Catalan. They were killed. The video also was leaked of how they were killed. They were shot and Zaida unfortunately was beheaded. Through the investigation it was found that there was some form of pressure to hide evidence of the investigation. Up until today there is nothing actually moving forward when a UN group of experts from the United Nations were killed in the DRC nothing unfolded and the foreign policy published a report showing that the United Nations was suppressing evidence of the killing of these two UN experts may be due according to foreign policy to the implication of the Congolese government into the killing. So today seeing the killing of an Italian diplomat I'm much more cautious to say because a European was killed in Congo maybe now the world would pay attention. The stakes are very high. The answer to the crisis in the Congo I often say is found at the UN Security Council. Two of the members of the UN Security Council the United States and the United Kingdom. Why I always point fingers at these two nations because they are allies to run in a Uganda two nations they invaded a Congo twice. The Congo as a country sued both Randa and Uganda and the international court of justice. The case of Randa was rejected at the court. The case of Uganda Congo won this case. The international court of justice found Uganda guilty of war crimes in the DRC and demanded that Uganda pay $10 billion of reparation for the crimes that Uganda committed in the DRC. The reason why the Randa case was rejected is simply because Randa has never signed the Rome Treaty so the ICJ does not have jurisdiction in Randa or in studying that Randa is guilty for war crimes in DRC. There is another country that's similar to Randa that would be the United States. The United States has never signed the Rome Treaty. This is why they do not want their soldiers who committed crimes in Afghanistan or elsewhere to be tried for war crimes that committed outside of the United States. So bringing that up is to create the backdrop to the killing of these three individuals. They did not know when they woke up that morning at 8 a.m. ready to go travel and look at humanitarian projects. They did not wake up thinking that they would be dead that day and many Congolese every day don't wake up thinking that they would be dead but they are being killed because in the DRC there is so much worth needed for modern day technology that as long as there is death in the DRC we will continue to have resources pilfered out of the DRC at a very low cost and the Congolese people will not benefit from the wealth. Despite the tensions between the DRC and its neighbours the current government led by Felix Shisakedi has been getting closer to Rwanda. On multiple occasions Shisakedi has attended events in Rwanda. In March 2019 Shisakedi paid tribute at a genocide memorial in Rwanda at the sidelines of an economic forum. This drew sharp criticism in the DRC because of Rwanda's role in the undersigned violence in the country. Congolese people also expressed anger at the fact that Shisakedi had never paid tribute to the millions of Congolese who have died during the country's bloody history of wars and occupation. It has been a shock to Congolese to see the close rapprochement of the Congolese president to Rwanda mainly because of the crimes that Rwanda has committed there. We saw the Congolese president go to Kigali and visit the genocide memorial and bow for the millions of Rwandans who died during the genocide. It's a surprise to us because he's never done such a thing for the millions who have died in the DRC. We saw him very close to President Kagame having declarations together for peace of stability but no question of, for example, Rwandan general James Cabarebe who is one of the DRC for crimes that he committed. Now this is a Rwandan official. The reason why I'm always mentioning James Cabarebe is very important for viewers to know this. James Cabarebe is a Rwandan soldier who in 1997 became the Congolese army chief of staff. And after the conflict between Rwanda and Uganda unfolded, he was kicked out of the Congo and went back to Rwanda. Why am I mentioning that? Because when he was the Congolese army chief of staff in 1997, he told us that he was Congolese. Today we surprise his Rwandan general in Rwanda in military function. So when people usually try to find that, is it really true that Rwanda is in DRC? I saw the numerous reports and evidence that exist. I always use that example of having a general, I call it a criminal with our border who was in Uganda as a soldier, was in Rwanda as a soldier, was in Congo as a soldier and he has committed crimes all across. So the rapprochement of Felix has been really shocking to us. And he's not just Rwanda that he's been close to. He's gotten close to Morocco, for example. The president of the Congo declared that he supports Morocco in control of Western Sahara. Saying that Western Sahara not being part of Morocco is a form of Balkanization of Morocco. For anyone who knows the struggle of Western Sahara, this is a national liberation movement where the people of Western Sahara are colonized by Morocco and they want their freedom. So no one can be confused about that. The African Union as an institution is clear about Western Sahara because the African Union recognizes the Western Sahara. Sadly, the Congolese president today is the president, is the chairman of the African Union. So the African Union has a chairman that recognizes Morocco's control and colonization of Western Sahara. So beside the Western Sahara situation, we have the Palestinian question. The president of the Congo went to speak at APA conference and in the APA conference stated that the Congo is going to open a diplomatic mission in Jerusalem. Pretty much certifying the looting of the land, the taking off the land from the Palestinian. They are being ripped off of being dispossessed of their own land. So as Congolese with the suffering that we've had, we are surprised that the Congolese president is opening a diplomatic mission in Jerusalem saying that this is a branch of the Congolese embassy in Israel. So this is happening in the backdrop of the 2018 elections. In 2018, there was a presidential election. This presidential election will not have happened if the Congolese people did not fight for it. And this is the backdrop of explaining why President Felix is the leader of the DRC today because people will say, there is a president in the DRC, there is a government, why can they address this issue? But this 2018 election was a rigged election. Felix had a secret deal with the former president of the Congo Joseph Kabila. This secret deal was signed in front of Kenya, Egypt, and also South Africa, representative of these countries as documentary, Africa, many other newspapers that we know today there is a secret deal. And this secret deal stipulated that the president of the DRC will not go after the former president for economic crimes and all the crimes that he committed, beside all the things that he may have promised. Now, as an unlikely winner of the election, he lacks legitimacy with the people of the Congo because people of the Congo did not vote for him. We were announced in January of 2019 that he was the winner of the election and he's been ruling pretty much with the US ambassador, as I usually say, as his personal assistant, that anywhere Felix's security travels is mostly with the US ambassador. So it's clear to me that the US is almost remote controlling our president, telling him what to do and how to move. The US made a statement around Morocco and Western Sahara, saying that Western Sahara belongs to Morocco, implying such and such, the Congo does the same. The US opens an embassy in Jerusalem, Congo does the same. And then, lately, we have now the presence of the US military. Now, with this red election, with him being in power and lacking legitimacy and getting closer to run the analysis, it's hard for him to hold any neighbors accountable if they are committing crimes in the DRC. And that's very important to know. In December of 2020, December 23, the UN group of experts published a report. They usually published two reports a year. So the report that came out in December documented that in the Niran-Gongo, Masisi, and Ruchiru territory, that's in Kivu, in the area where they killed the ambassador. They clearly stated in this report that the random military, the random defense force, have their soldiers clandestinely, illegally on Congolese soil, doing military operation, which is against the sanctioned regime of the 1533 resolution of the United Nations that created a sanctioned regime for the DRC. That the random soldiers cannot be in DRC without proper information and documentation, and they are not there. So we know random soldiers are in the DRC illegally, clandestinely, where they killed the ambassador. We also know where they killed the ambassador. There is a Congolese military base. How do we know that? There is a video, four videos circulating now online of the moments right after the kidnapping. In this video, you can see three antennas. The locals call this area the zone, zone the three antennas, meaning the area of three antennas. These are cell towers. This area, for anyone who knows the region, everyone will tell you there is a Congolese military base right beside there. And according to the UN report, there is also the random military. So they killed the diplomat, the head of diplomacy of Italy in the area where the Congolese government and the random government had information. Will the United Nations be able to really help in getting the truth? My fear is they may not. If Zaida Catalan and Michael Shaw, the two UN group of experts were killed a couple of years ago, until today there is no due justice. If the United Nations, the Congolese government and other international bodies did not solve this case of Zaida Catalan and Michael Shaw, due to the lack of political will, I doubt they will do the same for this killing. It's really important to know the case of the two UN group of experts who were killed because according to foreign policy, during the investigation, and after the closing of the investigation, the United Nations suppressed evidence implicating the Congolese government into the killing of two UN group of experts. This is what foreign policy is saying. So if the United Nations can suppress that, and they've done so in the past, when Dag Hammershal, the first UN secretary general, was killed while he was traveling to other Congo, that was suppressed 60 years ago. And we have this now. The only way justice can take place is for people to demand it and not wait for these institutions. And for the Congo, as this crime takes place, our call is very clear. For the past two decades, over 60 million Congolese people have died. In 2010, a report was published called the UN mapping exercise report. In that report, it called for the creation of an international tribunal for DRC. The Congolese people support this process. The reason why they support this process is because beyond the Congolese who committed the crimes in DRC, others who committed the crimes are not in DRC. And we have to have international jurisdiction and international mechanism to try them. So Congolese are saying, to stop the killing of people like Luca Atanasio, Vittorio Lacovacci, or Mustafa Milambo, we must end the culture of impunity with the creation of the international tribunal for Congo, per the recommendation of the UN mapping exercise report, per the advocacy of the Nobel Peace Prize, Dr. Denis Mukwege, and per the voice of the millions of Congolese who continue to scream for justice for the millions who have died in the DRC since 1996.