KINSHASA (BBC) -- The United Nations has brokered a deal to end three days of unrest in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

President Joseph Kabila and his rival Jean-Pierre Bemba have ordered their supporters to stop fighting.

Armed supporters of the two presidential candidates began shooting in the capital Kinshasa on Sunday.

Several hundred soldiers from European Union countries, stationed in nearby Gabon, have arrived in Kinshasa to reinforce UN peacekeepers.

The head of the armed forces has ordered all government troops to return to their barracks.

Bemba, a vice-president in the national unity government, has ordered his supporters withdraw to their original positions.

Clashes broke out on Sunday when officials announced that a run-off vote between President Kabila and Bemba would be necessary.

Neither candidate won more than the required minimum of 50% of the votes in the 30 July election needed for outright victory.

After the announcement, armed members of Kabila's presidential guard repeatedly clashed with soldiers loyal to Bemba.

Most of the heavy fighting appeared to have died down by late afternoon on Tuesday.

Bemba's spokesman Germain Kabinga told the BBC's Focus on Africa program that the opposition leader was still committed to the run-off but that the UN should create a buffer zone between the two camps.

"We really want to go to the second round. We don't want to restart the war," he said.

Bemba is a former rebel leader and retains his own personal security force but is now under UN protection.

Sunday's clashes left at least five people dead, according to the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo and there are reports at least three more deaths since then.

Fraud claims

Kabila took 45% of the vote, just short of the 50% needed for outright victory, while Bemba gained 20%.

After the election results were declared, Kabila appeared on state TV, saying he had won a "great victory". Some of his rivals, including those from Mr Bemba's party, say there was widespread fraud in the elections.

The 30 July election was the first democratic poll to be held in the country since it gained independence in 1960 and follows the official end of a five-year conflict, which dragged in several other African countries and led to the death of more than 3 million people.

The results show a regional division in DR Congo, a country two-thirds the size of western Europe.

Bemba won most votes in the west of the country, while Kabila gained most support in the Swahili-speaking east.