The UN is mediating among political parties in Mbuji-Mayi, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo's Kasai Oriental Province, following last week's violence.

Some 1,600 internally displaced people (IDPs) began their journey home on Thursday along the mighty River Congo, from Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, to the provinces of Equateur and Orientale, according to a UN official.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has named a five-member panel of experts to monitor an arms embargo the UN has imposed against the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to a letter from Annan to the UN Security Council, dated 17 May.

Rwandan Hutu rebels based in eastern Congo are responsible for hundreds of summary executions, rapes, beatings and hostage-taking of Congolese civilians in the territory of Walungu, South Kivu Province, the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, MONUC, said on Wednesday in a report documenting the human rights violations.

Police imposed a curfew beginning late Tuesday in Mbuji-Mayi, a major mining town in central Democratic Republic of Congo, following violent demonstrations in which at least two people died and 12 others were wounded.

South African officials are due to provide technical and financial aid to public service institutions in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) over a three-year period, a government minister said on Tuesday.

At a ceremony held on Monday to present the Democratic Republic of Congo's newly adopted draft constitution, President Joseph Kabila urged all Congolese to rally in support of democracy, saying that following the adoption, the country's electoral process was irreversible.

A UN peacekeeper was shot dead and six others were wounded on Thursday when an armed group ambushed a convoy carrying 40 UN Bangladeshi troops in the troubled northeastern district of Ituri in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a spokeswoman for the UN mission there, known as MONUC, said.

An attempt to secede from the Democratic Republic of Congo was foiled recently in the southeastern province of Katanga, the deputy government spokesman, Simon Tshitenge, told IRIN on Friday.

A Belgian company has been picked to organise the identification and registration of voters for the Democratic Republic of Congo's first post-transition elections, the chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission, Apollinaire Malumalu, announced on Thursday.