Kinshasa: Violent protests have erupted in the DR Congo`s capital after incumbent Joseph
Kabila was named the election winner and his two main rivals rejected the result.
Gunshots rang out in Kinshasa`s eastern neighbourhood of Limete, where rival Etienne Tshisekedi, who has rejected the result and declared himself president, has his party
headquarters.
Third-placed candidate Vital Kamerhe also rejected the result and recognised Tshisekedi as president.
There was also shooting in the central neighbourhood of Bandale, where protesters set tyres on fire and threw stones at a heavy contingent of armed police who fired tear gas to
disperse them.
And there also reports of looting and at least one person was shot and wounded near Bandale.
While the unrest was limited to specific areas, calls poured in from the international community for restraint in the restive central African country.
Tshisekedi himself called for calm late yesterday. According to provisional results finally released yesterday by the election commission after a marathon 11-day
wait, Kabila, who has been in power since 2001, secured 49 percent of the vote.
Tshisekedi, they said, had won just 32.3 per cent. But Tshisekedi dismissed the figures and declared himself president, in comments.
"I consider this (result) declaration an outright provocation to our people and I reject it in full," he said.
"As a result, I consider myself from this day on as the elected president," he told reporters.
"I call on the international community, which has relentlessly encouraged me to guarantee a peaceful process, to not only find a solution to this problem but take all possible measures so that the blood of the Congolese people is not spilled again."
PTI
