Supporters of the army chief of staff in the Democratic Republic of Congo, General Masasu Nindanga, who was arrested this week, say he has been falsely accused of plotting a coup.

One of his associates said some of his allies had also been detained.

But the secretary-general of the governing party, Deogratias Bugera, denied the arrest was linked to a coup, and officials said it was for disciplinary reasons.

Correspondents in the capital Kinshasa say the arrest could be an indication of rivalries between President Laurent Kabila and his supporters, who are from the sourthern Shaba province, and many of the soldiers who helped him come to power, who are from the eastern part of the former Zaire.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service