Polls open after DR Congo clashes

Polls have opened for the Democratic Republic of Congo's presidential elections, after a run-up marred by violence and logistical delays. The head of the electoral commission said 99% of polling stations were ready and voting would go ahead as planned. At least three people were killed on Saturday, leading to a police ban on final campaign rallies.

It is the second presidential poll in DR Congo since the end of 1996-2003 wars which left four million dead.

Ahead of the vote, international organisations appealed for calm.

Helicopter deliveries

Election officials have been scrambling to get ballot papers distributed to all 60,000 of the polling stations in a country which is about two-thirds the size of Western Europe but has very little transport infrastructure.

In many inaccessible areas, voting material was delivered by helicopter.

Polling stations opened at 0600 local time. Because DR Congo is so vast, this was 0400 GMT in eastern areas and an hour later in the west.

In all, 11 candidates are running for president and more than 18,000 are vying for seats in the 500-member parliament.

In some areas, voters will have to leaf through booklets of ballot papers, says the BBC's Will Ross in the capital, Kinshasa.

On Sunday, opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi called off a rally which would have contravened the ban on political gathering imposed after his supporters came to blows with those of incumbent President Joseph Kabila on Saturday, leaving three people dead.Mr Tshisekedi had vowed to ignore the ban and became locked in a seven-hour stand-off with police at Kinshasa airport on Sunday. It ended when he agreed to call off the gathering.

Scuffles erupted and police fired tear gas and live ammunition to break up the crowds.

Police later delayed Mr Tshisekedi at Kinshasa's airport until late on Saturday forcing him to miss his final rally.

A number of officials from Mr Tshisekedi's Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) were reported to have been roughed up or arrested.

Mr Tshisekedi called on his supporters to gather later on Sunday, despite electoral laws against campaigning on the day before the vote, but the rally never came to pass.

The European Union observer mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo criticised both the police and the various candidates over the pre-election violence.

Delaying Mr Tshisekedi from leaving the airport had been "a serious impediment" to his right to campaign, the mission said.

"The mission deplores the chaotic and improvised management of the last political meetings by many presidential candidates, by the Kinshasa authorities which restrained freedom of opinion, meetings and demonstrations," it added.

The United Nations too, criticised the security forces.

"The security forces should refrain from any acts that could heighten tensions and create any difficulties on the eve of elections," Reuters news agency quoted Mounoubai Madnodje, spokesman for the UN peacekeeping mission in DR Congo, as saying.

The chairman of the African Union, Jean Ping, also expressed his concerns.

In a press release issued on Sunday, he said he "deplores the violence that took place in Kinshasa, which resulted in loss of life, as well as the various other incidents that marred the election campaign".

Mr Tshisekedi accused the head of the UN 20,000-strong peacekeeping mission in Congo, American diplomat Roger Meece, of favouring the Kabila government.

"The international community has supported [in Congo] Africa's worst dictatorships for 51 years," Reuters quoted him as saying, adding he wanted Mr Meece to step down.

The last election, in 2006, was marred by weeks of street battles led by supporters of the losing candidate.

Our correspondent says that whether it is peaceful or not this time will depend to a great extent on the behaviour of the candidates and whether the losers are willing to accept defeat.

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