Luca Attanasio

Early life Attanasio was born on 23 May 1977 in Saronno, Lombardy, Italy, to father Salvatore Attanasio. He graduated with honors in business at Bocconi University in 2001.

While Regent Consul General in Casablanca Attanasio befriended the representatives of the Trevi group. The company Trevi Fondazioni was then negotiating a cooperation agreement with Morocco for infrastructure contracts around Casablanca and he facilitated the transaction.

In 2013 he returned to the Farnesina where he was appointed Head of the Secretariat of the Directorate General for Globalization and Global Affairs. He then returned to Africa as first counselor at the Italian embassy in Abuja, Nigeria, in 2015. From 5 September 2017 until his death he was head of mission in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. From 31 October 2019 he was confirmed on site as an Extraordinary Plenipotentiary Ambassador accredited in the DRC. In October 2020, he was awarded the Nassiriya International Prize for Peace. Attanasio was one of Italy's youngest ambassadors.

Death

At 10:30 am on 22 February 2021, including Attanasio, was attacked by six armed individuals. The convoy was travelling in North Kivu, from the province's capital of Goma to a WFP school feeding programme in Rutshuru, a town north of Goma, on a route that would have taken the vehicles through Virunga National Park. and Kanyamahoro.

Attanasio was the main target of the attack. As the gunmen attempted to kidnap him, they opened fire, killing Mustapha Milambo, the Congolese UN driver. As local security forces were arriving at the scene following the report of shots fired, the gunmen killed 30-year-old carabiniere Vittorio Iacovacci and mortally wounded Attanasio. The attackers then kidnapped three of the hostages and fled the scene, while a third Italian national escaped unharmed. bringing the total number of deaths resulting from the attack to three. Attanasio was the first foreign ambassador to be killed in the DRC since 1993, and the first Italian ambassador killed while serving his term.

The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda were accused of being behind the attack by local authorities. However, the group denied any responsibility and condemned the attack, calling it 'ignoble'. Attanasio's wife, Zakia Seddiki, told Il Messaggero she believed he had been "betrayed by someone close to us, to our family", saying "someone who knew his movements has spoken, has sold him out and betrayed him".

On 5 March 2021, Mwilanya Asani William, the attorney who was investigating the murder of Attanasio and the two other men, was murdered by unknown gunmen during an ambush.

On 19 January 2022, police in the DRC announced they had arrested six members of a highway robbers' gang suspected of killing Attanasio.

According to a report from Le journal de l'Afrique, Attanasio's assassination was a revenge by his former partners, members of the March 23 Movement (M23) headed by Jean-Marie Runiga, for unfulfilled trade promises. They had three daughters. After his death, several Muslim communities observed a Salat al-gha'ib, or absentee funeral prayer, for him and Milambo. Baraa Al Obeidi, imam of Milan's Maria Mosque, said Attanasio should be considered a martyr by the Muslim community, as he was an innocent killed due to his humanitarian work.