U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) led a bipartisan congressional call on Friday for an “independent, transparent and comprehensive” investigation into the murders of two United Nations investigators in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The investigators, Michael Sharp, an American with ties to Kansas, and Zaida Catalan, a Swedish-Chilean dual citizen, were murdered in March while investigating alleged human rights violations in the DRC’s Kasai region.
Roberts and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) led a bipartisan coalition of 10 senators in a letter to UN Ambassador Nikki Haley. The letter notes that the circumstances surrounding the deaths “raise serious questions and demand a credible, high-level UN investigation.”
The DRC is on the verge of “a major political crisis” as DRC President Joseph Kabila’s coalition has stalled on a 2016 agreement that would bring about overdue national elections, and security forces have engaged in political repression and “large-scale human rights abuses” in the Kasai regions, the letter states.
“This crisis in Kasai comes on the heels of a number of disturbing reports of abuse committed in the course of fighting between government forces and a local militia called Kamuina Nsapu,” the senators wrote. “Videos have emerged showing Congolese soldiers appearing to massacre unarmed civilians, while a different video appears to show Kamuina Nsapu members decapitating DRC police. UN investigators have documented some 42 mass grave sites and the killings of more than 400 people since last August, while the Catholic Church in DRC reports a death toll of over 3,300.”
Sharp and Catalan were investigating alleged human rights abuses as members of the UN Group of Experts on the DRC at the time of their deaths in March, the letter notes.
“Our determination in ensuring a full accounting of this matter must show unequivocally that UN officials will not be intimidated and that perpetrators of violence will be investigated and brought to justice,” the letter states.
The senators urged Haley to work with Secretary-General António Guterres to appoint an independent UN special investigation into the killings of Sharp and Catalan. In addition, they called on Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to make clear to Congolese officials that obstruction would have consequences for U.S. bilateral relations.