The retraining of 20 Congolese civilian and military prison personnel began on Wednesday in the southwestern French town of Agen, as part of the Democratic Republic of Congo's effort to shore up its maintenance of the rule of law, the press attaché at French embassy in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, said.

An enormous humanitarian crisis is emerging in the Democratic Republic of Congo?s Katanga Province, with tens of thousands of people being displaced, but so far the government and the international community are doing little.

Veteran politician Etienne Tshisekedi reversed on Monday his call for a boycott of general elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), due in 2006.

Congolese participating in their first free elections in forty years massively voted "yes" in a referendum on the future Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Initial trends in the Democratic Republic of Congo's constitutional referendum show overwhelming support for the document, which, if approved, should clear the way for general elections in 2006.

The World Court has found Uganda guilty of invading neighboring Congo during a 1998-2003 war and committing human-rights violations there. Congo's government says it will ask for billions in reparations and called the decision a warning to the country's other neighbors.

Voters continued trickling into polling stations throughout the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Monday for the second day of voting on the country's new draft constitution.

A convoy of the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) was attacked yesterday by a group of militias in the Mahagi area, in the north-eastern district of Ituri, a few hours from the constitutional referendum. MISNA learned the news today from Radio Okapi of the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC).

While calm returns to Kinshasa after demonstrations against Sunday?s referendum yesterday morning, the Congolese people have turned their attention to Bukavu, capital of South Kivu, as for the first time president Josep Kabila visited the area.

Almost 25 million voters in the DRC could prepare the way for the country's first presidential and parliamentary elections if they accept the draft constitution that is to be presented to them on Sunday in a referendum, senior diplomats said in Kinshasa.