Italy honors slain ambassador, bodyguard and prays for Congo
Italy paid tribute Thursday to its ambassador to Congo and his bodyguard who were killed in an attack on a U.N. convoy, honoring them with a state funeral and prayers for peace in Congo and all nations “torn by war and violence.”
Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, the pope’s vicar for Rome, presided over the solemn funeral at the Santa Maria degli Angeli basilica that was attended by Premier Mario Draghi, top lawmakers, representatives of the armed forces and relatives of the young men.
Ambassador Luca Attanasio and Carabiniere paramilitary officer Vittorio Iacovacci were killed Monday north of Goma when an armed group stopped them as they travelled in a two-car convoy to a World Food Program school feeding project. WFP's Congolese driver, Moustapha Milambo, was also killed in the attack.
Domenica Benedetto, partner of Italian Carabinieri police officer Vittorio Iacovacci, arrives for the state funeral of Iacovacci and the Italian ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo Luca Attanasio, in Rome's Santa Maria degli Angeli Church, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021. Italy is pressing the United Nations for answers about the attack Monday on a U.N. food aid convoy in Congo that left the young ambassador and his paramilitary police bodyguard dead. (AP PhotoAndrew Medichini)
Italy has formally asked the U.N. for an inquiry into what happened amid questions about whether the U.N. security arrangements were sufficient for the mission.
In his eulogy, De Donatis decried the “stupid and ferocious” attack and said it was right that Italy, Congo and the community of nations weep over such violence that “tore Luca and Vittorio from this world."
“Let us pray together that today is a day in which the prayer for peace in Congo and in all nations torn by various forms of war and violence is raised to heaven," he said.
Relatives of the Italian ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo Luca Attanasio, including his wife Zakia Seddiki, center, walk out of Santa Maria degli Angeli Church after the state funeral of Attanasio and Italian Carabinieri police officer Vittorio Iacovacci, in Rome, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021. Italy is pressing the United Nations for answers about the attack Monday on a U.N. food aid convoy in Congo that left the young ambassador and his paramilitary police bodyguard dead. (AP PhotoAndrew Medichini)
He denounced how so many Congolese feel the constant threat of danger from rebel groups “knocking at their door,” saying the country had been “cruelly devastated by violence that sees their children die every day.”
But he praised the men for working for peace and looking out for others “even at the cost of their own lives.”
“If this the fate of peace workers, what will be the fate of the rest of us?” he asked.
The casket of Italian Carabinieri police officer Vittorio Iacovacci, draped in the Italian flag, is driven away at the end of the state funeral for Italian ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo Luca Attanasio and Iacovacci, in Rome, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021. Italy paid tribute Thursday to its ambassador to Congo and his bodyguard who were killed in an attack on a U.N. convoy, honoring them with a state funeral and prayers for peace in Congo and all nations "torn by war and violence." (AP PhotoAndrew Medichini)
The funeral, carried live on state RAI television, featured masked Carabinieri officers as pallbearers and altar servers, with a military band performing Chopin’s haunting “Funeral March” as the flag-draped coffins were carried in and out of the basilica.
After the service, the socially-distanced crowd applauded as the two hearses pulled out of the piazza carrying the coffins for burial, flanked by a police escort.
Attanasio is survived by his wife and three young daughters, at least one of whom attended the funeral, as well as his parents and siblings. Iacovacci is survived by his fiancee and other family members.
People attend the funerals of Italian ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo Luca Attanasio and Italian Carabinieri police officer Vittorio Iacovacci, in Rome, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021. Italy paid tribute Thursday to its ambassador to Congo and his bodyguard who were killed in an attack on a U.N. convoy, honoring them with a state funeral and prayers for peace in Congo and all nations "torn by war and violence." (AP PhotoAndrew Medichini)
A Carabinieri officer attends the funeral of the Italian ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo Luca Attanasio and Italian Carabinieri police officer Vittorio Iacovacci, in Rome, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021. Italy paid tribute Thursday to its ambassador to Congo and his bodyguard who were killed in an attack on a U.N. convoy, honoring them with a state funeral and prayers for peace in Congo and all nations "torn by war and violence." (AP PhotoAndrew Medichini)
Italian Premier Mario Draghi leaves at the end of the funeral of Italian ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo Luca Attanasio and Italian Carabinieri police officer Vittorio Iacovacci, in Rome, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021. Italy paid tribute Thursday to its ambassador to Congo and his bodyguard who were killed in an attack on a U.N. convoy, honoring them with a state funeral and prayers for peace in Congo and all nations "torn by war and violence." (AP PhotoAndrew Medichini)
Zakia Seddiki, wife of the Italian ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo Luca Attanasio, holds one of her children at the end of the state funeral for Attanasio and Italian Carabinieri police officer Vittorio Iacovacci, in Rome, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021. Italy paid tribute Thursday to its ambassador to Congo and his bodyguard who were killed in an attack on a U.N. convoy, honoring them with a state funeral and prayers for peace in Congo and all nations "torn by war and violence." (AP PhotoAndrew Medichini)
Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, the pope's vicar for Rome, at center with white cap, greets relatives of Italy's ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo Luca Attanasio and Italian Carabinieri police officer Vittorio Iacovacci, after presiding over their solemn funeral, in Rome's Santa Maria degli Angeli Church, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021. Italy paid tribute Thursday to its ambassador to Congo and his bodyguard who were killed in an attack on a U.N. convoy, honoring them with a state funeral and prayers for peace in Congo and all nations "torn by war and violence." (AP PhotoAndrew Medichini)
Carabinieri paramilitary police carry the caskets of the Italian ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo Luca Attanasio and Italian Carabinieri police officer Vittorio Iacovacci, draped with the Italian flag, at the end of their state, in Rome's Santa Maria degli Angeli Church, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021. Italy paid tribute Thursday to its ambassador to Congo and his bodyguard who were killed in an attack on a U.N. convoy, honoring them with a state funeral and prayers for peace in Congo and all nations "torn by war and violence." (AP PhotoAndrew Medichini)