The Democratic Republic of Congo's election standoff intensified Sunday after a damning report by international observers and a French warning of an 'explosive' situation.
Monitors from the Carter Center said incumbent Joseph Kabila's victory in the November 28 vote lacked credibility and French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe warned that poll-related violence that has already killed at least four could escalate.
"The situation is explosive, I'm well aware," Juppe told French broadcasters.
"The temptation to resort to violence is extremely strong, so we are trying to do everything possible to avoid this."
Election officials announced Friday that Kabila, in power since 2001, had defeated veteran opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi 49 percent to 32 percent to win a new five-year term.
The announcement was met with an eruption of violent protests and looting in Kinshasa. Tshisekedi immediately rejected the outcome and declared himself the legitimately elected president.
The US-based Carter Center, a non-profit organisation that monitored the election, issued a report late Saturday strongly criticising the vote.
"Multiple locations... reported impossibly high rates of 99 to 100 percent voter turnout with all, or nearly all, votes going to incumbent President Joseph Kabila," said a statement from the group.
"These and other observations point to mismanagement of the results process and compromise the integrity of the presidential election."
The Carter Center also reported the loss of nearly 2,000 polling station results in Kinshasa, a Tshisekedi stronghold, and described what it said was a chaotic counting process.
The European Union and other international and local observers have also cited serious problems with the vote, ranging from disorganisation at polling stations to ballot box stuffing.
Adding to the volatile atmosphere, police said four people had been killed Friday and Saturday as security forces used tear gas and fired shots in the air and at alleged looters to put down the unrest.
UN broadcaster Radio Okapi put the death toll at six.
By Sunday however, a heavy security force presence including police, presidential guards and some 20,000 soldiers deployed to the capital had largely restored a tense calm.
Public transportation was back on the streets after having virtually disappeared Saturday, and people were out and about again after a day of eerie quiet in the sprawling city of 10 million.
Tshisekedi's party, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), met Sunday to plan its next move.
"President Tshisekedi has made an appeal to the international community to find a solution," said spokesman Albert Moleka.
"We're waiting for a sign from the international community. That doesn't prevent people from using their right to protest peacefully in the meantime."
Candidates have until Tuesday to appeal the results to the supreme court, but Tshisekedi has rejected taking his grievances to "Kabila's private institution" -- raising fears the battle could be fought out on the street.
Juppe said appeals for non-violence to both leaders' camps "are not being listened to for the moment" and called on the African Union and other regional groups to increase pressure on the two rivals.
Kinshasa was sharply divided over the weekend. Kabila supporters held a second night of victory celebrations Saturday at party offices in the upscale neighbourhood of Gombe, where many embassies and ministries are located.
But in Bambu district, a Tshisekedi stronghold, police detained youths they accused of instigating violence, tied them up and hit them, firing their AK-47s in the air to clear the streets.
Text messaging was still disabled on the country's cell phone networks under interior ministry orders. The block has been in place for more than a week, ostensibly to stop the circulation of inflammatory election rumours.
Analysts have warned that the elections, just the second since back-to-back wars from 1996 to 2003, risk unleashing new conflict in the vast central African country.
The campaign was marred by bloodshed that according to Human Rights Watch left at least 18 civilians dead, most shot by Kabila's presidential guard.
