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.

Thirty-some militiamen of two different armed groups were killed by the armed forces in a series of operations aimed at regaining control of territory in the Ituri province, in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Uganda sought approval on Thursday from the Democratic Republic of Congo to redeploy troops into eastern Congo to hunt members of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) who entered the country in September, Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa said.

A humanitarian aid association, Solidarités, launched on Wednesday a drinking water distribution network for 170,000 people in North Kivu Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Uganda's foreign minister, Sam Kutesa, dismissed on Wednesday a demand for UN sanctions against his country made a day earlier by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

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.

Some 400 Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) who in September crossed from Sudan to the Garamba National Park in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are the latest of several foreign groups which the government says must leave the country by Friday or face serious consequences.

The self-styled MRC (Congolese Revolutionary Movement) apparently distributed arms and cash to militias active in Ituri in the past days in Bambu, around 50km from Bunia, east Dmocratic Republic of Congo.

A 'peace market' for commercial trade between different communities was inaugurated yesterday in Bunia, capital of the Ituri province (east Democratic Republic of Congo) in occasion of celebrations, held also in other parts of the nation, to mark the World Peace Day promoted by the UN.