Fighters loyal to a failed presidential candidate clashed with army forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital Kinshasa today, UN officials and witnesses said.

Incumbent President Joseph Kabila was declared the winner of Congo’s tense decider election, defeating his ex-rebel leader rival in the war-torn country’s first multi-party contest in more than 40 years.

People in the Democratic Republic of Congo have finished voting in an election that marks the climax of its four-year postwar transition.

FIGHTING flared for a third day yesterday between supporters of Congo’s two presidential candidates.