Thousands of civilians are fleeing fighting that has been raging since Monday between the UN-backed Congolese army and local militias around the Semliki River in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)'s northeastern district of Ituri, an aid official said.

In the latest joint UN-Congolese army military operation that started on Monday in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) military officers say at least 40 militiamen and three government soldiers have been killed and these figures are likely to rise.

The United Nations peacekeeping operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) is assisting the country's troops in cordon and search missions in the troubled east, where Ugandan rebels have been sighted and into which Ugandan-based soldiers were reported to have crossed briefly last month.

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.