Opposition derides DR Congo's blacklist

Legislation which proposes to ban more than three-hundred people from running for president in the Democratic Republic of Congo has come under criticism from the country's opposition leaders.

Speaking from exile in France, the former Zairean prime minister, Kengo Wa Dondo, derided the proposal -- drawn up as part of a draft constitution -- as a joke.

Among those banned are the opposition figures, Etienne Tshisekedi and Laurent Mosengwo.

The head of the Constitutional Committee, Anicet Kashamura, said the main intention was to bar people who'd been involved in killings or looting the country.

The government says it wants to hold democratic elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1999.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service