Does the UN not provide flight crews TAF's and Metars for the destination and alternate wx
This is Africa... T/storms are huge and like all T/storms, are dynamic, are localized and move/ develop and dissipate in short spaces of time... That part of the world (eastern Congo) is probably the most testing I've flown anywhere.... (and that includes the arctic in winter). High ground, vicious weather and little or nothing in the way of support... It's flying country that is very intollerant of mistákes in judgement or a sloppy approach to flying.... and even the best crews ( and these two were probably among the best out there by all acounts) can come to grief doing what they've done many times before and survived.... maybe they got caught in a violent down-draft... maybe they lost control due to getting too close to an abnormally large cell... maybe we'll never know.
It can happen to the best of us... unless we always elect to stay on the ground. whenever conditions are less than ideal... and they're rarely ideal in eastern Congo.