Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi initiated an independent investigation into the death of the country's head of military intelligence and said preliminary results suggested he'd died by hanging.
The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the central African nation is assisting with the probe, which is expected to conclude soon, according to minutes from a meeting Tshisekedi had with his Council of Ministers published March 7 on the website of Prime Minister Sylvestre Ilunga's office.
General Delphin Kahimbi, who died Feb. 28, was a close ally of former President Joseph Kabila, who is in an uneasy power-sharing alliance with Tshisekedi. He was suspended last month from the army for allegedly hiding weapons and attempting to spy on and destabilize the government.
Some previous reports said Kahimbi died from a heart attack. Tshisekedi gave no further details about the hanging.
The UN mission in Congo, known as Monusco, is providing technical and scientific support to the investigation at the request of the government, “but the investigation is Congolese-led,” Monusco spokesman Mathias Gillmann said by phone Monday from Kinshasa.
Read: Congo President Calls for Inquiry Into Death of Top General
To contact the reporter on this story: Michael J. Kavanagh in Kinshasa at mkavanagh9@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Gordon Bell at gbell16@bloomberg.net, Hilton Shone
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