During a nine-day working visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo which began on 6 March, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Guéhenno, spoke to IRIN in Kinshasa about security concerns for a peaceful run of a general election on 18 June. Following are excerpts of that interview on 9 March.

Two explosions from heavy weapons echoed from the eastern shore of Lake Upemba across the glassy waters to a tiny island formed from dead reeds. Displaced families were huddled there, under a makeshift shelter that was slowly sinking into the sludge.

Incidents of rape have risen sharply along the Kanyabayonga-Kayna road in the Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu Province, where fighting between the army and renegade soldiers has displaced at least 70,000 people, according to humanitarian workers.

Some 44 child combatants formerly allied to the Mayi-Mayi militia have left Dubie, in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Katanga Province, for the provincial capital, Lubumbashi, where they are to undergo psychological counselling and vocational training, officials said.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) military?s efforts to flush militias from the area south of Lake Albert in Ituri district has resulted in serious human rights violations, including the summary execution of six fishermen, rapes, imprisoning children and forcing villagers to transport stolen goods, the United Nations peacekeeping mission (MONUC) said today.

Relief workers say that fighting between the Congolese army and Mayi-Mayi militias in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Katanga Province has spread to a new area south of the town of Mitwaba in recent days, with militiamen there becoming increasingly dangerous and destructive.

Flooding caused by recent heavy rains in Kalemie Territory in Congo's Katanga Province could cause severe food shortages, a local employee of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has 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.

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.

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).