The
bodies of two UN experts who went missing in the Democratic Republic of
the Congo earlier this month have been found, the United Nations
confirmed in a statement Tuesday.
UN Secretary-General Antonio
Guterres said UN peacekeepers discovered the bodies of US citizen
Michael Sharp and Swedish national Zaida Catalan on Monday outside the
city of Kananga.
Sharp
and Catalan were members of the UN Group of Experts on Congo who were
investigating large-scale human rights violations in the region.
With
them were four Congolese nationals -- interpreter Betu Tshintela,
driver Isaac Kabuayi and two unidentified motorbike drivers, according to Human Rights Watch.
On
March 13, the DRC government announced they had "fallen into the hands
of unidentified negative forces," but did not release further
information, HRW said.
Sharp's
father, John Sharp, expressed his sorrow Tuesday on Facebook. "Tonight I
have no words except to thank you all for your support and prayers.
Maybe words will come in time," he wrote.
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