Body of missing man with Kansas ties found in shallow grave in Congo

Authorities have confirmed that a Kansas man was one of the three bodies found in a Congo province two weeks after two United Nations experts and their colleagues disappeared there, the country’s government said Tuesday.

Michael Sharp, the son of John Sharp and Michele Miller Sharp of Hesston, was one of six people kidnapped March 12 in the Central African nation’s Kasai Central province, according to reports.

Congolese police inspector general Charles Bisenginama said the bodies of Sharp and Zaida Catalan of Sweden were identified after being found Monday. The body of their interpreter, Betu Tshintela, was also found.

John Sharp, a professor at Hesston College, wrote on his Facebook page Monday that the bodies had been found in shallow graves.

“We have been informed that two Caucasian bodies have been found in the search area, one male and one female,” he wrote. “Since no other Caucasians have been reported missing in that region, there is a high probability that these are the bodies of MJ (Michael) and Zaida.”

John Sharp said dental records and DNA samples will be used to confirm the identities, though that process could take “some time.” When asked Tuesday morning if he wanted to comment further about the discovery of the bodies, Sharp declined.

Michael Sharp, 34, was doing humanitarian work for the U.N. in the area.

After finishing college, he spent three years in Germany working to provide counseling for U.S. troops who had expressed an interest in becoming conscientious objectors, his father said.

Before working for the United Nations, Michael Sharp worked for three years for the Mennonite Central Committee in Central Africa. His father has said Michael Sharp made it his life’s work to find nonviolent ways to resolve conflict.

Michael Sharp grew up in Indiana, where his parents lived before they moved to south-central Kansas in 2005. He made his home in Albuquerque when not working abroad.

The disappearance of Sharp and the others represents the first time U.N. experts have been reported missing in Congo, Human Rights Watch has said, and it is the first recorded disappearance of international workers in the Kasai provinces.

Parts of Congo, particularly the east, have experienced insecurity for decades, but violence in the Kasai provinces in central Congo represent a new expansion of tensions.

This story was originally published March 28, 2017 at 5:07 PM with the headline "Body of missing man with Kansas ties found in shallow grave in Congo."