Clashes have broken out between tire-burning protesters and security forces in the mostly pro-opposition capital, Kinshasa, and fears mounted a post-election dispute would reignite conflict in the war-scarred central African state.

The clashes erupted after Etienne Tshisekedi, the main challenger in Democratic Republic of Congo's election declared himself president, pouring scorn on provisional official results handing victory to incumbent Joseph Kabila.

The head of the electoral commission said on Friday Kabila won nearly 49 percent of the votes to rival Etienne Tshisekedi's roughly 32 percent, results an observer group later said appeared suspicious.

In Washington, the Obama administration called on Congolese authorities to complete the election process "with maximum openness and transparency."

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland also said the Kinshasa government "remains responsible for providing security for the people of the Congo" and that anyone involved in violence "must be held accountable."

Electoral commission chief Daniel Ngoy Mulunda called for calm. "(The results) are no reason to whip up the population against the established order to contest the results, or to settle scores," he told officials and diplomats gathered to hear the results.

Provocation

Tshisekedi said he rejected Kabila's victory and considered himself the newly elected leader of Congo.

"I consider these results a real provocation of the Congolese people," he said in an interview on RFI radio. "As a consequence, I consider myself, from today, the elected president of the Democratic Republic of Congo." 

Opposition supporters burned tires in parts of Kinshasa, a sprawling city of 10 million, and chanted Tshisekedi's campaign slogan, "The people first." A U.N. source said there had been clashes with security forces and reports of shooting.

Gunfire erupted in Mbuji Mayi, an opposition stronghold in the south of the country, an hour after Kabila was named winner, a local civil society leader said. "We can hear gunshots everywhere, it's still going on," he told Reuters.

Celebrations broke out in other parts of the country.

At least 18 people have been killed in election-related violence, according to U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, as opposition protesters took to the streets alleging the government was attempting to rig the vote.

The November 28 poll was Congo's first locally organized presidential contest since a war that killed more than 5 million, and is meant to move the country toward stability and encourage investment after years of conflict and turmoil.

Government Communications Minister Lambert Mende said Tshisekedi's self-declaration as president was "nonsense and illegal" and warned that it could spark violence.

Back to legality

"We're calling for Mr. Thshisekedi to come back to legality and not to threaten the peace of the country just because the people didn't choose him," he told Reuters by telephone.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Congolese on Friday to avoid violence over the results.

The dispute mirrored a post-vote crisis in Ivory Coast that sparked a civil war. But unlike in Ivory Coast, the U.N. mission will not be in a position to take sides, as it does not have a mandate to certify the results and did not observe the poll.

Source: Reuters