  Under certain conditions, we describe the homotopy type of the homo-topy
fibre of the inclusion map F\_n(X) $\rightarrow$ $\prod$\_1^n X for the n-th
configuration space F\_n(X) of a topological manifold X without boundary such
that dim(X) $\ge$ 3. We then apply our results to the cases where either the
universal covering of X is contractible or X is an orbit space S^k/G of a tame,
free action of a Lie group G on the k-sphere S^k. If the group G is finite and
k is odd, we give a full description of the long exact sequence in homotopy of
the homotopy fibration of the inclusion map F\_n(S^k/G) $\rightarrow$
$\prod$\_1^n S^k/G.
