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AFP
The head of the Congolese Senate, who was attacked and hospitalised in Paris at the weekend, is recovering and will leave hospital within 48 hours, an aide said on Monday.

"He is doing well, he should leave (hospital) within 48 hours," Franck Mwe-Dimalila, an aide to Senate chief Leon Kengo, told AFP.

The 76-year-old senator was attacked at Paris's Gare du Nord train station on Saturday allegedly by supporters of President Joseph Kabila's rival, Etienne Tshisekedi.

The Congolese government condemned the attack and summoned the French ambassador to explain. French authorities said police were investigating.

In a statement Monday, Kengo's UFC party said the senator "forgives his attackers who acted with blind passion."

Tshisekedi is a veteran opposition leader in the Democratic Republic of Congo and runner-up in the November 28 election but he has refused to recognise Kabila's victory and has proclaimed himself the country's leader.

Kengo was one of the presidential candidates who had called for annulling the vote over fraud allegations. Several foreign countries and election observer missions also complained of irregularities in the vote.

Still Kengo was present at the swearing-in of Kabila to a second five-year term on December 20.