According to diplomatic sources on Sunday, a Belgian IT specialist who was in Kinshasa supporting the European mission monitoring the Congolese polls committed suicide on Friday night by jumping from the 12th story of a hotel in the country’s capital.
The deadly fall was first reported by the Congolese media on Sunday morning, and a Kinshasa inquiry has been launched.
Speaking to reporters, an EU spokeswoman stated that the organisation has been informed of the “tragic incident” in Brussels.
“Our thoughts and sympathy are with his family, friends and colleagues”, she added.
“While the investigation is underway in Kinshasa, we cannot comment further,” the spokeswoman added.
When reporters also got in touch with the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it confirmed it had received news of the passing in Kinshasa of one of its citizens who was “on a short-term mission” in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a spokesman said.
He committed suicide, according to diplomatic sources in Kinshasa, no question about it.
In preparation for the general elections that took place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo this week, the European Union sent a smaller delegation of eight observers to Kinshasa.
It had originally intended to launch a larger mission with fifty or more observers across the nation, but it abandoned the idea after multiple sources said that the Congolese government would not permit it to utilise its satellite technology.
The eight observers were being supported by a team that included the IT specialist who committed suicide in Kinshasa.
This trimmed-down mission would conduct “a technical analysis of the electoral process and submit a report,” according to a directive from the EU on December 7.
The general elections (presidential, legislative, provincial, and local), which were originally set for December 20, have been formally postponed by one or more days in certain isolated regions of the large Central African nation because of various logistical issues.
