The European Union yesterday reinforced its peacekeeping operation in Kinshasa as gun battles raged in the Congo capital for a third consecutive day.

The fighting is part of a growing political and security crisis in the wake of presidential poll results at the weekend. Troops loyal to President Joseph Kabila and rebel-turned-vice-president Jean Pierre Bemba battled each other in the city centre as top UN officials and diplomats struggled to mediate an end to the crisis.