AMERICAN OFFICIAL ABDUCTED IN CONGO:

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.

‘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.

The Democratic Republic of Congo isn’t democratic and it isn’t a republic. It is a very dangerous place.

BACKGROUND: StrategyPage’s latest Congo update, titled “My Way Or Else.”