Inquiry on Kabila killing to report in days

A special commission has finished its inquiry into the murder of Congolese President Mr Laurent Kabila and will report to his…

A special commission has finished its inquiry into the murder of Congolese President Mr Laurent Kabila and will report to his son and successor, Mr Joseph Kabila, in the next few days, a minister said today.

Mr Mwenze Kongolo, minister for national security and public order, told reporters that Mr Kabila would decide whether to make the report's findings public only after he had seen it.

"The report was supposed to be presented to the president last Monday. It has been held back because of the schedule of the president," said Mr Mwenze, who was justice minister until Kabila reshuffled his cabinet on Saturday.

Since the assassination of his father, Mr Kabila has revived efforts to end a war which has raged in the Democratic Republic of Congo since 1998. It hasdragged in six foreign armies and split the vast state between government and rebel factions.

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The inquiry commission was set up by Mr Kabila in February to investigate the January 16th assassination of his father by a bodyguard. Originally due to report in March, the commission was given an extra month to complete its report.

Mr Mwenze said some of the people detained on the orders of the commission would be released once Mr Kabila had seen the report, but he declined to say who or how many.

The heads of several national security agencies have been detained in Kinshasa's central prison for over a month while the government investigates whether they played roles in the assassination. The former aide-de-camp to the late Kabila, Mr Edy Kapend, is also being held.

Mr Mwenze said in March that the government was committed to bringing the guilty to justice "without exception," including anybody implicated in the mysterious deaths of 11 Lebanese nationals in the aftermath of Kabila's assassination.