71.   Congolese authorities refused to confirm the arrests and Embassy officials were not immediately available for comment.

72.   Defense Minister Fernando Botero confirmed the arrest.

73.   Diego Suarez Governor Jean Robert Gara confirmed the arrests in a telephone interview.

74.   Dr. Joseph Karemera, a former rebel colonel who is the minister of health in the government that seized power last August, confirmed the arrests.

75.   Family and allies of Abdul Haq confirmed the arrest.

76.   Foreign Minister Faris Bweiz confirmed the arrests, but he declined to provide details, saying only that the suspects were being interrogated by Lebanese authorities.

77.   Government spokesman Dominique Sakombi and the leader of the Kinshasa-based Lebanese community, Abdul Aschour, confirmed the arrests.

78.   Government officials could not confirm the arrests.

79.   Hamas spokesman Ismail Abu Shanab confirmed the arrests.

80.   However, Swiss prosecutors later confirmed the arrest to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.