UPDATE 5-Police ban Congo election rallies, at least 2 dead

Sun Nov 27, 2011 12:16am GMT

[-] Text [+]

* Tshisekedi blocked at airport by police

* At least two dead amid rock-throwing, gunfire

* Elections are second since 1998-2003 war (Adds Tshisekedi leaving airport)

By Jonny Hogg and David Lewis

KINSHASA, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Police in Congo blocked President Joseph Kabila's main rival at an airport in Kinshasa on Saturday to stop him staging an election rally after at least two died in violence across the central African state's capital city.

Two days before presidential and parliamentary elections, rival factions hurled rocks at each other and gunfire was heard across town.

A Reuters reporter saw one lifeless body on the road to the airport while a U.N. source reported another death elsewhere in town.

The violence was the latest sign of tension in the run-up to Congo's second election since a 1998-2003 war, a poll which has been marked by opposition allegations of irregularities and concerns about inadequate preparations.

Police stopped opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi and his entourage from leaving Kinshasa's N'djili airport after his party said it would defy a ban on political rallies imposed earlier on Saturday. Continued...

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