Sporadic violence hit Guinea's capital and several regions after opposition leader Alpha Conde was declared winner in a hotly contested presidential poll.

Authorities in the West African country called on security forces to refrain from using firearms after an report of one death and dozens wounded in their clashes with rock-throwing youths in the outskirts of Conakry.

Armed men held up buses in the northern Labe region robbing and sometimes beating up passengers, caretaker prime minister Jean-Marie Dore said.

"That is why I have asked the governor of Labe region to enforce a curfew until order returns," he told state television.

After a tense wait for election results, Guinea's election commission late on Monday named veteran opposition leader Conde winner of the election with 52.5 percent of the vote in.

The poll was Guinea's first free vote since independence from France in 1958 and is meant to draw a line under almost two years of military rule.

All-night celebrations by Conde supporters were tainted by bursts of gunfire in the streets of the capital before a return to calm allowed Conde to do a victory tour of the town centre.

But residents in Diallo's strongholds in the outskirts of Conakry reported security forces shooting to keep people indoors while youths threw rocks at them. One human rights group accused security forces with a record of poor discipline of using excessive force.

source: Reuters