Banishment of DR Congo opposition leader condemned

A leading human rights organisation has condemned the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo for the arrest and internal exile of the country's main opposition politician, Etienne Tshisekedi.

The United States-based group Human Rights Watch called his detention a blatant violation of democratic freedoms and demanded his immediate release.

Mr Tshisekedi, who is accused by the government of persistently breaking a ban on political activity, was banished from the capital to his home village in the east on Friday.

Speaking at a meeting in Kinshasa yesterday, President Laurent Kabila warned his opponents against what he called poisoning the people and destabilising the government.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service