KINSHASA, June 27: Veteran opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi was released today, the morning after soldiers from Laurent Kabila's army arrested him at his home, a senior aide said.

Tshisekedi, members of his family and other associates had been taken away late on Thursday, hours after he addressed several thousand students in defiance of a government ban on political activity.

Adrien Phongo, secretary general of Tshisekedi's Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) party, told Reuters that those arrested had been released today. ``He was questioned for a long time. We are disappointed.

They want to light the fire,'' Phongo said. Tshisekedi was the main domestic opponent to veteran dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, whom Kabila and his Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo toppled in May after a seven-month civil war.

Witnesses said the arrest triggered protests by Tshisekedi loyalists who set fire to at least four vehicles in his Limete district of the capital Kinshasa. Kabila has banned political parties, marches and gatherings and has alienated opposition followers by excluding Tshisekedi from his new government.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.