Minister denies Lebanese killings have tarnished Congo

Foreign Minister Leonard She Okitundu also denied that the summary execution of 11 Lebanese nationals arrested after Laurent Kabila’s murder - an incident which he said should not be blown out of proportion - had in any way tarnished the international image of the DRC. “First of all, the DRC government cannot be held responsible for these executions,” he said. As soon as it was informed of “the awful act”, the government had instigated an inquiry into the deaths and there was no laxity on its part, Okitundu said. “We should not look at the murders in terms of nationality, as if citizens of a particular country were targeted. This is completely wrong,” Radio France Internationale (RFI) on Monday quoted him as saying.

Kinshasa’s position on the matter was that there was now a need to let the commission of inquiry do its work, establish the truth, identify the perpetrators and bring them to book, Okitundu said on Congolese television. The foreign minister said there was “no obstacle to handing over the bodies to their families”, and that the conditions in which this could be done would be established as soon as possible, he said. Angry Congolese soldiers had killed “some” of the Lebanese nationals after Kabila’s murder, AP news agency last week quoted Justice Minister Mwenze Kongolo as saying. “They had heard that some Lebanese were involved in Kabila’s assassination and, because of the anger they had, they executed them without the knowledge of the government,” Kongolo said. However, the leader of the Lebanese community in the DRC, Ade Sata Ashu, complained that this statement on the executions was vague and partial, RFI reported.