Eighteen fully integrated army brigades whose mission will be to provide security during Congo's general elections later this year will be fully trained by 5 July, the spokesman of the army chief of staff, Jean-Willy Mutombo, has said.

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.

Presidential and parliamentary elections, the first in nearly 40 years since independence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, will be held on 30 July, Independent Electoral Commission Chairman Apollinaire Muholongo Malumalu announced on Sunday.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has protested to Uganda against its army's incursion into northeastern Congo in the so-called pursuit of Ugandan rebels, the Congolese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday.

The Council of the European Union has appointed two commanders and adopted a "Joint Action" on its military operation to support the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) during general elections scheduled to be held later this year.

The UN Security Council has passed a resolution endorsing the deployment of a European Union (EU) reserve force to serve in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for a period ending four months after the date of the first round of upcoming general elections slated for later this year.

President Joseph Kabila and three of his four vice-presidents are on the final list of 33 presidential candidates published by the Democratic Republic of Congo's Independent Electoral Commission, known by its French acronym CEI.

The UN Security Council has passed a resolution endorsing the deployment of a European Union (EU) reserve force to serve in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for a period ending four months after the date of the first round of upcoming general elections slated for later this year.

Seven soldiers in the Congolese army have been sentenced to life in prison for crimes against humanity, including the mass rape of at least 119 women in the northwestern province of Equateur. This was the first sentence against the country's military personnel for crimes against humanity.