Congolese Mayi-Mayi militiamen took five journalists hostage this week in northern Katanga Province as UN sources confirmed that the militia leader, Mbayo Mpiana Mwana Butot, alias Chinja Chinja, was arrested earlier in April in the capital, Kinshasa.

At least 10 brigades of the new Congolese army are being prepared to help with the country's reunification process, especially during elections planned for later this year, the army's chief of general staff, Lt-Gen Kisempia Kisungilanga, told IRIN on Monday.

Conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) continues despite a peace agreement signed by Congolese parties in April 2003.

Two militiamen and a civilian died on Friday after a seven-hour shootout between Congolese national army troops and Union patriotiques de congolais (UPC) militias in a gold-rich territory of the northeastern district of Ituri, displacing thousands of people.

The Democratic Republic of Congo's Independent Electoral Commission announced on Friday that voter registration would only begin in early June, making it likely that the elections will not take place as scheduled.

The Union des patriotes Congolais (UPC), one of the major militia groups in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, announced on Wednesday an end to its insurrection in the district of Ituri.

The remaining 416 militiamen of the Forces armees du peuple congolais (FAPC) surrendered their guns to UN troops on Wednesday, effectively dismantling the movement and boosting efforts to pacify the troubled Ituri District in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague, Netherlands, began hearing a case on Monday brought by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), accusing its neighbour, Uganda, of invading its territory and committing human rights violations.

Nine women were killed and 5,300 civilians displaced in the Democratic Republic of Congo's southwestern province of Katanga following fighting between government troops and Mayi-Mayi militias, a UN official told IRIN on Wednesday.

Provincial authorities in South Kivu, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), said on Tuesday that there had been fighting between Congolese troops and Rwandan Hutu militias, known as Interahamwe, at a village 150 km north of the provincial capital, Goma.