DRCongo authorities on Monday expressed regret over an assault on three French diplomats in the capital Kinshasa, government and diplomatic sources told AFP.

Police officers were among a group that raided a site used by the French embassy in a bid to “oust a French diplomat,” the justice ministry said in a statement.

An embassy cultural cooperation diplomat was struck while being held for nearly three hours, while two other diplomats were “shoved around but with no wounds,” a diplomatic source added.

“Members of the police and the prosecutor’s office” were among the assailants, “some of whom have already been arrested,” the ministry said.

A DR Congo court last year ruled in favor of France in a dispute over the ownership of the site where the incident took place, occupied by the embassy since 1972, the diplomatic source said.

France’s ambassador Bruno Aubert met with President Felix Tshisekedi on Monday. Foreign Minister Therese Wagner Kayikwamba had already expressed “deep regret” Saturday over “an incident that violated international conventions.”

“We discussed this situation and the measures that will be taken, some already, by the Congolese authorities to ensure such an incident does not happen again,” Aubert said in comments released by Kayikwamba’s office.

Source: Arab News 

BDST: 1037 HRS, AUG 27, 2024
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