DRC: After Luca Attanasio, the assassination of the military auditor of the Rutshuru prosecutor’s office

Major William Assani,

By Arnold Gakuba

It is only ten days, since February 22, 2021, that the Italian ambassador in the DRC Mr. Luca Attanasio was ambushed and died with his body-guard and the driver of the WFP in the province of North-Kivu. On the evening of March 2, 2021, shortly after a week later, the military auditor of the Rutshuru prosecutor’s office, Major William Assani, was also killed in an ambush in Katale. The assassins were called thieves.

The cries are enormous both within the army (FARDC), relatives and friends of the late Major William Assani. One would wonder whether there is no connection between the death of Major Willian Assani and the Ambassador Luca Attanasio. These two highly renowned personalities died almost the similar death: the ambush.

We would like to point out that since the death of the Italian ambassador to the DRC, Mr. Luca Attanasio, independent investigations were requested by several bodies including the FDRL who were accused of being the author of this tragedy, the PAM, the ambassador’s widow and the Italian government. As the whole world waits what comes from the investigations on the death of the Italian Ambassador to the DRC, this is yet another grandiose loss of Major William Assani, the military auditor of the Rutshuru Prosecutor’s Office. One would wonder if the auditor William Assani was not linked – directly or indirectly – to the investigations into the death of Luca Attanasio which occurred last week.

In fact, the administrator of Rutshuru territory, Justin Mukanya, who also confirms the information on the death of Major William Assani, says that the investigations are already opened by the security services in order to unmask the identity of the perpetrators of this murder. These successive deaths pose great questions? These despicable acts are happening in the border region of Rwanda, controlled by the FARDC. Would Rwanda not be involved in these murders to destabilize the region in order to plunder the natural resources of the eastern region of the country or to show to the international community that the region is destabilized by the rebels who want to invade Rwanda as has always been the pretext put forward by the Kigali government to defend their presence in eastern region of DRC with other pursued politico-economic goals? So, let’s remain vigilant!