The International Criminal Court (ICC) is reviewing an application filed by the government of the Central African Republic (CAR) against former President Ange-Felix Patasse and four of his aides, to decide whether or not the prosecutor's office would order an inquiry into their alleged crimes, ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has said.

A Congolese warlord, Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, made his first appearance at the International Criminal Court in The Hague on Monday, on charges of conscripting children and using them to participate in hostilities during 2002 and 2003.

A Congolese military tribunal has condemned a leader of a former armed group, called Mudundu 40, to five years imprisonment for crimes including the illegal detention of children, the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) said on Monday.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has transferred a militia leader to the International Criminal Court in the Hague to face war crimes charges.

Former rebel commanders, leaders of armed factions backed by Rwanda and Uganda for control of the resources of the Democratic Republic of Congo, but also former ?government? generals and arms traffickers: some fifteen names were included in a list disclosed yesterday of those responsible for civilians massacres and violence in DR-Congo, to face punitive measures.

A county court in the Democratic Republic of Congo's northeastern town of Bunia in Ituri District sentenced a local militia leader to 15 years imprisonment on Thursday for forgery and extorting money from the public.

Some 5,000 civilians who fled fighting last week between the army and local armed groups in a gold mining area of northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)'s Ituri District began returning to their homes on Monday, a Roman Catholic clergyman said.

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

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 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.