UN chief Ban launches inquiry into Guinea violence
* U.N. inquiry to be chaired by Algerian diplomat
* Guinea's leaders promise to cooperate with inquiry
By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 30 (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has launched an international inquiry headed by an Algerian diplomat to look into a bloody crackdown on protesters in Guinea last month, the United Nations said on Friday.
Gunmen opened fire on anti-government protesters on Sept. 28 in a stadium in Conakry, the capital of the West African country. The violence killed 157 people and wounded more than a thousand others, a local rights group reported.
The U.N. Security Council earlier this week condemned the violence, but failed to voice explicit support for Ban's inquiry because Russia was opposed, council diplomats said. They said Moscow did not like the idea of interfering in the domestic politics of an individual country.
The United Nations has said Ban's inquiry will "investigate those incidents with a view to determining the accountability of those involved." It did not say what action might follow.
Guinea's military government, led by Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, has promised to cooperate with the U.N. inquiry. Camara took power in a coup last December after the death of veteran strongman President Lansana Conte.
The inquiry will be chaired by Algerian diplomat and jurist Mohamed Bedjaoui.
It will have two other members, Francoise Ngendahyo Kayiramirwa of Burundi, who has served with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and Pramila Patten of Mauritius, a member of the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.
They are due to report their results to Ban, who then could hand the results to the Security Council for possible action.
Michele Montas, Ban's spokeswoman, said the commission members will meet with Ban in New York before heading to Geneva and Guinea to carry out their work.
The prosecutor of the Hague-based International Criminal Court has said he, too, was investigating the crackdown.
(Editing by Will Dunham)
