The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has confirmed that security forces have arrested the suspected murderers of 11 Lebanese citizens, reported AFP Saturday.
Communications Minister Dominique Sakombi told AFP that those thought to be responsible for the killings in January had been detained, but he neither identified them nor said when they were arrested.
Their case is in the hands of a commission set up by President Joseph Kabila to investigate the fatal shooting on January 16 of his father, then president Laurent Kabila, said the agency.
The Lebanese were taken from their homes by armed men in the hours that followed the shooting.
Ten bodies were repatriated on March 18 but one body is still missing.
The circumstances of the seizure and killing of the Lebanese residents remain uncertain, as does the murder of Kabila.
The former president was shot by one of his own bodyguards. His death was announced by the Kinshasa government two days later.
On Friday, Lebanese President Emile Lahoud received a message from President Kabila telling him that his country “strongly condemns the killing of the Lebanese expatriates in Kinshasa,” reported the official NNA news agency.
President Kabila seized the opportunity to renew his country's commitment to guaranteeing the safety of Lebanese expatriates in Congo, said NNA.
The letter was handed to Lahoud by Culture Minister, Ghassan Salameh, who returned from Kinshasa on Thursday, added the agency
Salameh said that Kabila and several Congolese ministers had guaranteed the investigation would be carried out, and that its results would be made public on April 6th, the Lebanese agency quoted him as saying – Albawaba.com
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