At least 3,300 Congolese from North Kivu Province, eastern DRC, have fled into Rwanda since the beginning of April to escape insecurity caused by militiamen, a UN official told IRIN on Friday.

Aid workers are unable to reach camps for thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where cholera has broken out, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has said.

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

Congolese army and UN peacekeeping troops carried out a "cordon and search" operation on Monday in the militia strongholds of the embattled northeastern district of Ituri, killing scores of militiamen.

Two more battalions of the Congolese Armed Forces have arrived in Bunia, the main town in the northeastern district of Ituri, ahead of their deployment to formerly militia-occupied territories of Mahagi and Aru, an army liaison officer told IRIN on Tuesday.

The UN Security Council extended an embargo on arms and military financing in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Monday, to include a travel ban on violators and the freezing of their assets.

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.

Two groups of international experts analysing the transitional peace process in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which is set to end with national elections in June, have said the country could instead descend to another war.