• Michael Sharp, 34, was abducted by Kamwina Nsapu militia group in the Congo
  • Fellow UN official Zaida Catalan, of Swedish nationality, and four Congolese were also taken near the near the village of Ngombe in Kasai Central province
  • Sharp and Catalan were among UN experts investigating Congolese conflicts
  • The UN and Congolese government say they are working to recover them

An American UN official has been kidnapped by militia while travelling through the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Michael Sharp, 34, was among a team riding through the central African country by motorcycle on Sunday when they were abducted by the Kamwina Nsapu militia group, according to officials.

Fellow UN official Zaida Catalan, of Swedish nationality, and four Congolese were also taken near the near the village of Ngombe in the Kasai Central province.

Michael Sharp, 34, was among a team riding through the central African country by motorcycle when they were abducted by an unidentified militia groupMichael Sharp, 34, was among a team riding through the central African country by motorcycle when they were abducted by an unidentified militia group

 Michael Sharp, 34, (left and right) was among a team riding through the central African country by motorcycle when they were abducted by an unidentified militia group

Fellow UN official Zaida Catalan, of Swedish nationality, and four Congolese were also taken near the near the village of Ngombe in the Kasai Central province

‘The ambush took place in a bush where there is neither the police nor the army,’ said Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, deputy prime minister in charge of the Interior, according to Jeune Afrique.

‘It is indeed young drug addicts belonging to the militia of Kamwina Nsapu who attacked the two experts.’

Shadary also told Jeune Afrique that a Monusco helicopter flew over the area where the kidnapping took place but could not locate the UN experts.

‘The administrative and security services are working … in concert with Monusco (the U.N. mission) to obtain the liberation of the kidnapped persons,’ the Congolese government statement signed by Information Minister Lambert Mende said.

Sharp and Catalan were among a UN panel of experts investigating the conflicts that have been simmering in Congo since the mid-1990s, when a civil war spawned dozens of armed groups and drew in half a dozen neighboring armies.

Fellow UN official Zaida Catalan, of Swedish nationality, and four Congolese were also taken near the near the village of Ngombe in the Kasai Central province.Fellow UN official Zaida Catalan, of Swedish nationality, and four Congolese were also taken near the near the village of Ngombe in the Kasai Central province.

Fellow UN official Zaida Catalan (left and right), of Swedish nationality, and four Congolese were also taken near the near the village of Ngombe in the Kasai Central province
Sharp and fellow kidnap victim Catalan were among a UN panel of experts investigating the conflicts that have been simmering in Congo since the mid-1990s, when a civil war spawned dozens of armed groups and drew in half a dozen neighboring armies

 Sharp and fellow kidnap victim Catalan were among a UN panel of experts investigating the conflicts that have been simmering in Congo since the mid-1990s, when a civil war spawned dozens of armed groups and drew in half a dozen neighboring armies

Mende said the two experts left Kananga, the capital of Central Kasai province, where they had met with the head of the country’s UN mission on Sunday, headed for the town of Tshimbulu. The town has seen furious clashes between militia and the state army in recent months leaving dozens dead.

Sharp and Catalan were ‘accompanied by a Congolese translator, all aboard motorcycles driven by three other Congolese,’ said Mende, who added that the local authorities had not been informed that the group would be travelling through.

They were ambushed and kidnapped on the Moyo bridge near the village Ngombe, later that day.

A U.N. spokesman confirmed they were missing and that U.N. peacekeepers were searching for them.

‘The United Nations and MONUSCO are doing all that is possible at this moment to locate the two experts,’ he said.

‘Sadly, it is true,’ Michael’s father John Sharp, 65, of Hesston, Kansas, told NBC News. ‘At one point [during the journey], they were surprised, confronted and taken.’

A U.N. spokesman confirmed that Sharp (pictured) was missing and that U.N. peacekeepers were searching for him

 A U.N. spokesman confirmed that Sharp (pictured) was missing and that U.N. peacekeepers were searching for him

‘He and a colleague, another member of a group of experts, and four Congolese people were together,’ he said. ‘Three were drivers, one a translator and they were going on a mission, we don’t know what that mission was.’

The US State Department said it has ‘no higher priority than protecting US citizens abroad.’

‘When a US citizen is reported missing, we work closely with local authorities and fully cooperate with their research efforts,’ he said.

Sharp is a 2001 graduate of Bethany Christian Schools in Goshen, Indiana, and a 2005 graduate of Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, Virginia.

He has been working as a UN expert on the DNC since April 2015. Prior to that, Sharp worked with the Mennonite Central Committee as the Eastern Congo Coordinator.

WHO ARE THE KAMWINA NSAPU MILITIA?

Kamwina Nsapu is a militia of majority child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Half are under the age of 14.

They are named after their former leader Kamwina Nsapu – born Jean-Pierre Pandi – who inherited the chiefdom from his late father. Nsapu was killed in August 2016 when he led calls to contest the Congolese government and attacked the local police.

Congolese government often accuse the militia of being on drugs.

Since 2016, the group has been involved in multiple bloody clashes with the state army.

In January, four militia fighters were killed and two local police were wounded in clashes, while in February, fighting broke out in Tshimbulu between 300 militia and the armed forces which resulted in more than 100 deaths by the state military, according to the UN.

The group have a history of kidnapping after they abducted a Roman Catholic priest from the St. Alphonsus parish in Kananga when he tried to stop the militia from taking children out of schools. He was later released.

The college has since released a statement to the Mennonite saying the community is ‘heavy-hearted at the news of the kidnapping of Michael J. Sharp . Our prayers are with John, Michele and their family as they await more news in this uncertain time, and especially with MJ, his colleagues and those seeking their safe return.’

Family and friends of Sharp have also asked for prayers on Facebook.

Kasai Central province, in remote, heavily forested central Congo, has been riven by clashes between security forces and a local tribal militia called the Kamuina Nsapu since July.

At least 400 people have been killed and 200,000 have been displaced since the fighting broke out when police killed the militia’s leader last August, the U.N. mission says.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said last week that three mass graves had been discovered in the area where the clashes are taking place.

Security across Congo has worsened since President Joseph Kabila failed to step down when his mandate expired in December.