The United Nations says government forces in the southern Democratic Republic of Congo are committing an increasing number of serious human rights violations.

Close to 200 Mayi-Mayi fighters have surrendered with their weapons to United Nations peacekeeping troops in north and central Katanga Province, in the southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

With ongoing fighting between the government and Mayi-Mayi militia groups in the north and centre of Katanga Province the number of displaced has reached at least 165,000 in the last six months, UN officials said.

The vanguard of a new contingent of United Nations peacekeepers has arrived in embattled Katanga province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to boost security for forthcoming elections that it is hoped will cement the vast country's transition from years of bloody conflict to peace and democracy.

The Security Council today authorized the temporary redeployment of peacekeepers from the Organization's operation in Burundi (ONUB) to its mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) to strengthen security and oversight for the upcoming Congolese elections.

The United Nations began airdrops of food relief on Wednesday to tens of thousands of people displaced by fighting between the national army and Mayi-Mayi malitiamen in Katanga, the south-eastern province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, a UN official said.

Humanitarian actors in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) must increase efforts to resolve "critical" food shortages and lack of protection for at least 150,000 war-displaced people in Katanga Province, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has said.

United Nations relief officials are calling for stepped-up humanitarian and peacekeeping measures to confront hunger and ?horrific atrocities? in Katanga in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where fighting between the army and Mai Mai rebels has driven over 150,000 people from their homes in the last six months.

Elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are a near certainty, despite the obstacles that threaten a smooth transition to democracy. What is largely uncertain, however, is how stable the country will be in the aftermath of the polls.

Before colonialism in Africa, community life centred on ethnic customs and culture. In pre-colonial Congo, people lived under the authority of a traditional chief, in observance of these cultural norms.