About ten thousand people gathered in the Ivorian capital, Abidjan, for the funeral of an opposition leader, Djeny Kobina, who died nearly two weeks ago.

He was head of the Republican Rally party RDR.

After a service in St Paul's Cathedral, correspondents say the funeral procession to a cemetery six kilometres away took on the character of an opposition demonstration.

Among the mourners was Alassane Dramane Ouattara, the deputy director of the International Monetary Fund, who is being viewed as a possible RDR candidate for presidential elections in the year 2000.

The secretary general of the ruling Democratic Party attended the funeral and Prime Minister Daniel Kablan Duncan sent a huge wreath.