The 400 Ugandan rebels from the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) who in September sought refuge in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been forced back across the border, a Congolese army spokesman said on Friday in Kinshasa.

A senior Rwandan government official dismissed on Thursday allegations that the army was responsible for a massacre nearly 10 years ago of hundreds of people in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), whose bodies were discovered recently in mass graves.

In what the UN says sets an important legal precedent for the Democratic Republic of Congo, a court-martial hearing began this week in the northwestern province of Equateur for 12 soldiers accused of raping 119 women.

The army of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has begun deploying at least 2,000 men to the northeastern town of Aba near the Sudan border to disarm 400 Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels who recently entered the country.

The UN Security Council extended on Friday the mandate of the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), known as MONUC, until the end of October.

The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) said on Friday its army would resist any invasion by foreign forces.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said on Thursday the Congolese government and the UN mission there known as MONUC must, in two months, disarm Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels who recently crossed into eastern Congo or his army would do so.

The Ugandan rebels of the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) that recently crossed into the Democratic Republic of Congo must disarm and repatriate without any negotiation or force will be used: this was the ultimatum launched by the military spokesman of the MONUC (United Nations Mission in DR-Congo), Thierry Provendier.

Some 400 Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) who in September crossed from Sudan to the Garamba National Park in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are the latest of several foreign groups which the government says must leave the country by Friday or face serious consequences.

Uganda has asked the Democratic Republic of Congo to arrest and hand over Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels who are allegedly seeking asylum in the vast central African state, a senior government official said on Monday.