Clashes following the announcement of Togo's presidential election results have left at least 20 people dead and over 100 injured.
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees says that at least 1,200 people have fleed the outbreak of violence into neighbouring Benin and Ghana, adding it hoped it was not the start of a major influx.
Security forces have clashed with opposition supporters in street battles in the country's capital, Lome, since it was announced yesterday that Faure Gnassingbe, the son of the late ruler Gnassingbe Eyadema, had won presidential elections.
In the opposition stronghold district, Be, soldiers patrolled on foot, firing tear gas canisters at shouting youths who threw back stones at them from behind barricades of bricks and blazing tyres.
The main opposition candidate, Emmanuel Akitani-Bob, who won 38.19% of the vote to Gnassingbe's 60.22%, declared himself the winner of the election today, calling on his supporters to stand firm and for the former ruler's son to listen to reason.
The US earlier said it backs efforts to establish a government of national unity in Togo as offered by Gnassingbe but rejected by the Opposition.
However, the State Department stopped short of saying whether the Bush administration would recognise Gnassingbe's election win.
