The senior United Nations envoy to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has condemned yesterday's murder of a local politician in the far east of the country, saying it seems to be part of an emerging pattern of assassinations of political and business leaders in that region of the vast nation.

The body of Floribert Bwana Chuy Bin Kositi, the provincial secretary of the Congolese Rally for Democracy political party, was found yesterday in Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, which borders Uganda and Rwanda.

William Lacy Swing, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for the DRC, called the killing of Mr. Chuy Bin Kositi an "odious crime" that had occurred as efforts were being stepped up to bring lasting peace to North Kivu, one of the most volatile regions of the country.

Mr. Swing - who is also head of the UN Organization Mission in the DRC (MONUC) - called on Congolese authorities to do their utmost to ensure that the sponsors and perpetrators of the murder are located and brought to justice.

"MONUC is preoccupied by the murders and kidnappings who have recently taken place in the region" around North Kivu, Mr. Swing said in a press statement issued yesterday in Kinshasa, the DRC capital.

He stressed that the culture of impunity around such killings and abductions, whether they are targeted or apparently random, must stop.