The body of slain Congolese President Laurent Kabila was received by wailing relatives at Kinshasa's main airport yesterday as his main military allies met in neighbouring Angola to plan an emergency summit.
Hundreds of people, many wearing T-shirts bearing Kabila's face, lined the 25-mile route to the hilltop People's Palace, where he will lie in state until tomorrow's burial.
One grief-stricken woman had to be restrained by soldiers as she tried to approach the body. Taxi drivers said they had been given free fuel to bring mourners to the ceremony.
At one stage hundreds of protesters threw stones and spat at foreign journalists, chanting: "We don't want to see whites. Why did you have to kill Mzee [old man]?".
Mystery still surrounds the circumstances of Kabila's death. The authorities insist he was shot by a renegade gunman but diplomatic sources say it was more likely the result of a planned coup attempt.
Although Mr Kabila's son, Joseph, is due to be appointed head of state after tomorrow's burial, diplomatic observers say a backroom struggle for control of Africa's third-largest country is taking place.
Angolan President Eduardo dos Santos blamed the "enemies of the Congolese people" for Kabila's death. He urged the Congolese to rally behind Joseph Kabila, an army commander who kept a low public profile until being flung into power this week.
President Dos Santos was meeting with his counterparts from Zimbabwe and Namibia, Kabila's main allies in the war against Rwandan and Ugandan-backed rebels.
Angola is regarded as a crucial influence on the formation of a new administration in Kinshasa, which is heavily dependent on its well-equipped army.
Afterwards the allies pledged to seek a peaceful solution to the three-year war but said they would not withdraw their troops.
Meanwhile, Cuba announced three days of mourning for President Kabila, once a comrade in arms of the Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara.