Yesterday delegates from the Congolese government and some representatives of the Ugandan rebel group of the Lord's resistance Army (LRA) met for the first time.

The self-styled MRC (Congolese Revolutionary Movement) apparently distributed arms and cash to militias active in Ituri in the past days in Bambu, around 50km from Bunia, east Dmocratic Republic of Congo.

Hundreds of Congolese who recently returned from Rwanda to the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to register as voters have been disqualified because they hold dual citizenship, electoral officials said.

In efforts to foster peace, legislators from three Great Lakes countries resolved on Friday to follow up and get involved in the implementation of peace treaties agreed upon by governments in the region.

The UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) does not plan to capture a dissident former general of the Congolese army against whom an international arrest warrant was issued recently, an official told IRIN on Thursday.

A group of Ugandan rebels from the LRA penetrated in the Democratic Republic of Congo, raiding the village of Losa, five kilometers from the border with Sudan.

A 'peace market' for commercial trade between different communities was inaugurated yesterday in Bunia, capital of the Ituri province (east Democratic Republic of Congo) in occasion of celebrations, held also in other parts of the nation, to mark the World Peace Day promoted by the UN.

The social problems of the post-war transition in the Democratic republic of Congo were at the heart of the meeting between the president of the Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO), monsignor Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, and the head of state, Joseph Kabila.

Soldiers from the 12th brigade deserted their posts in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the last week, the military spokesman for the UN said on Tuesday, but 580 of them have already returned to base.

The governor of Congo's South Kivu Province, Didas Kaningini, said on Monday that 48 dissident soldiers who were arrested recently as they returned from exile to the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) had escaped from a jail.