DR Congo police, opposition stand-off as rallies banned

KINSHASA (AFP) - The last day of campaigning in Democratic Republic of Congo polls on Saturday descended into a stand-off between opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi and police who blockaded his red Hummer as he tried to defy a rally ban.

The 78-year-old, known for his unbending personality, stood up defiantly through the sunroof of the vehicle and stared down national police chief General Charles Bisengimana and 300 of his officers.

Throngs of Tshisekedi supporters brandishing palm fronds had gathered along the main airport road to greet the veteran politician with a welcome his party said would be "like Jesus entering Jerusalem!".

But as he tried to leave the airport for the capital's largest stadium, a large armoured truck and four police pick-ups blocked his path.

He remained hemmed in more than three hours after vowing to hold his final rally despite the ban, imposed after a man was killed by a rock to the head in campaign-related unrest earlier in the day.

Kinshasa Governor Andre Kimbuta, a Kabila ally, said the ban was for security reasons, accusing Tshisekedi supporters of carrying machetes, knives and petrol bombs.

"What does he represent, this governor? You watch and see if he dares to come to the stadium to stop me from holding my rally," Tshisekedi told AFP.

A spokesman for Tshisekedi's party said police had given him a choice: leave the airport with a police officer at the wheel of his car, or stay there until midnight, the official end of the campaign.

"I'll hold my rally after midnight," Tshisekedi reportedly replied.

Both his campaign and incumbent President Joseph Kabila's had planned to hold their final rallies at the Stade des Martyrs, raising fears of clashes ahead of Monday's presidential and parliamentary elections.

The day began with a festive atmosphere but quickly unravelled into violence.

Near the stadium, as packed trucks spilled Tshisekedi supporters into the street, police fired teargas to disperse them, but left nearby Kabila supporters alone.

At the airport, where both Kabila and Tshisekedi were expected to fly in from the previous day's campaign stops, Tshisekedi backers threw stones at the empty presidential convoy and Governor Kimbuta's car.

Police used live ammunition to disperse them -- firing shots both in the air and at crowd level, apparently hitting and wounding at least three people.

Officers also used teargas, water cannon and batons.

The crowd, which dwindled to a few hundred people at the height of the crackdown, grew again to thousands when Tshisekedi arrived by car -- after aviation authorities had blocked his plane from landing and diverted him to a nearby airport, according to his party.

The violence closes a tense campaign marred by a series of street fights between rival supporters.

It is also certain to fuel the conspiracy theories that already abound in the DRC amid opposition charges of vote-rigging.

Kabila, who was born on the other side of the country, in the eastern province of Sud-Kivu, is not popular in the capital, and would likely have had the smaller rally Saturday.

The president speaks little Lingala, the main local language, and grew up in exile in Tanzania with his rebel father, Laurent -- from whom he inherited power in 2001 after his assassination.

But Kabila, 40, enjoys more popularity in other parts of the country, and -- as an incumbent running against 10 opposition candidates in a single-round election -- is tipped as the favourite.

Amid the chaos of the final campaign day, the national election commission also cancelled for the second time a press conference on its efforts to get ballots delivered in a country two-thirds the size of western Europe and with a crumbling and limited road network.

The commission has been running behind schedule throughout the process, raising fears the vote could be delayed.

The elections are just the DRC's second since back-to-back wars from 1996 to 2003 whose scars are still fresh.