The European Union (EU) announced on Monday it would be assigning EU military and security advisers to posts within various key security sections of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)'s administration, including the private office of the minister of defence

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) repatriated on Thursday the first 109 of 57,000 refugees from the Republic of Congo (ROC) to their homes in Equateur Province, northwestern Democratic Republic of Congo

Hearings ended on Friday in a case brought by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague, Netherlands, accusing Uganda of invading its territory and committing human rights violations.

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, transferred on Friday 149 Congolese refugees from a transit centre near the Rwanda-Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) border to a newly established refugee camp

Mayi-Mayi militiamen released on Thursday five local reporters they had taken hostage earlier this week in the Democratic Republic of Congo's southern province of Katanga

The Democratic Republic of Congo's electoral commission asked parliament on Thursday to extend the government's transition to democratic rule beyond June 2005 as scheduled, an official told IRIN.

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.

Security has improved in the Democratic Republic of Congo's southeastern province of Katanga, allowing humanitarian groups to mobilise aid, the UN Mission in the country, known as MONUC, said on Monday.

The first 100 of some 58,000 refugees who had been living in the Republic of Congo (ROC) in the past six years are due to begin returning to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)'s Equateur Province on Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the UN refugees agency, UNHCR, announced.

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.