The Council of the European Union announced on Thursday that it had approved "the concept" of EU troops supporting MONUC, the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) during the presidential and legislative elections process this year.

Some 280 militiamen have withdrawn from the village of Katoto, in the northeastern district of Ituri in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in the face of advancing government troops, a senior military officer said on Friday.

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.

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.

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.

Some 1,000 people have arrived in the southern suburbs of Bunia, the main town of Ituru District, fleeing fighting approximately 50 km farther south, according to local officials.

Hundreds of civilians have been displaced by fighting between United Nations-supported government troops and militiamen in the northeastern province of Orientale in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Bunia, Ituri District.

Despite relief aid having reached some 6,000 war-displaced people in the northeastern district of Ituri in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), humanitarian officials are worried that tentative calm in the area could deteriorate.