Congolese soldiers in the restive northeastern district of Ituri have captured a "brigade commander" of the former militia Union des Patriotes Congolais(the Congolese Patriotic Union) which was led by Thomas Lubanga, currently awaiting trial before the International Criminal Court.

Mayi-Mayi warlord Kyungu Mutanga, alias Gédéon, surrendered to UN peacekeepers on Friday in Mitwaba, a town in southeastern province of Katanga in Democratic Republic of Congo.

The United Nations says government forces in the southern Democratic Republic of Congo are committing an increasing number of serious human rights violations.

Eighteen fully integrated army brigades whose mission will be to provide security during Congo's general elections later this year will be fully trained by 5 July, the spokesman of the army chief of staff, Jean-Willy Mutombo, has said.

Close to 200 Mayi-Mayi fighters have surrendered with their weapons to United Nations peacekeeping troops in north and central Katanga Province, in the southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

With ongoing fighting between the government and Mayi-Mayi militia groups in the north and centre of Katanga Province the number of displaced has reached at least 165,000 in the last six months, UN officials said.

Presidential and parliamentary elections, the first in nearly 40 years since independence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, will be held on 30 July, Independent Electoral Commission Chairman Apollinaire Muholongo Malumalu announced on Sunday.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has protested to Uganda against its army's incursion into northeastern Congo in the so-called pursuit of Ugandan rebels, the Congolese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday.

The Council of the European Union has appointed two commanders and adopted a "Joint Action" on its military operation to support the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) during general elections scheduled to be held later this year.