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Army to investigate officer's death

    JOHANNESBURG

    The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has launched an investigation into the shooting of a senior officer in the country's peacekeeping contingent in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the official news service, BuaNews, reported.

    An unknown gunman shot and killed Colonel Siyalala Apheus Mothapo late on Monday outside the Adikivu base in Bukavu, northeastern DRC.

    Colonel Kwena Mangope of the SANDF said the circumstances surrounding the death of the officer were still unclear, but an investigation was underway. The UN is also investigating his death.

    "The officer was about to finish his six-months term in the DRC," BuaNews reported Colonel Mangope as saying.

    South Africa has been supplying defence force personnel to the DRC for over a year, as part of the UN peacekeeping mission monitoring the country's peace agreement.

    More than 700 military personnel drawn from the SANDF and its medical corps are currently deployed in the DRC.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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