An arrest warrant was issued today for a former Democratic Republic (DR) of Congo warlord who took refuge inside a foreign embassy while his personal army and government troops fought in the capital.

Fighters loyal to a failed presidential candidate clashed with army forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital Kinshasa today, UN officials and witnesses said.

Demonstrators protesting alleged corruption in Congo’s local and legislative elections turned violent today, leaving more than six dead in several towns, authorities and witnesses said.

CONGO inaugurated Joseph Kabila as its first freely elected president in more than four decades yesterday, installing a rebel leader’s son who ushered in a plan to end years of fighting to help the country take a place among the world’s democracies.

A rebel leader’s son who ushered in a peace plan was sworn in today as the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s first freely-elected president in more than four decades.

A hearing on vote fraud charges will be delayed and continue in a new location in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital Kinshasa after part of the country’s supreme court caught fire yesterday amid gunfire and street fighting among supporters of the runner-up, officials said today.

Gunshots sounded and street brawls broke out today in Kinshasa among a crowd rallying for the runner-up in Democratic Republic of Congo’s landmark presidential vote as he pursued a court challenge of his loss.

The European Union plans to pull its peacekeepers out of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on schedule, despite heightened tension over the upcoming results of key elections, senior officials said today.

People in the Democratic Republic of Congo have finished voting in an election that marks the climax of its four-year postwar transition.

UN troops in armoured vehicles are standing guard at the site of a three-day gun battle that broke out between forces loyal to president Joseph Kabila and a former rebel leader in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

THE chief of staff to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s President Joseph Kabila has been assaulted and robbed in northwest London, outside a TV studio.

EU defence ministers today gathered in Finland to consider winding down the international peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and eventually replacing it with a mostly civilian operation in the Balkan nation.

The European Union today announced it granted an extra £11m (€16.3) to help fill gaps in funding for the elections in Congo.

FIGHTING flared for a third day yesterday between supporters of Congo’s two presidential candidates.

GUNFIRE broke out yesterday near the home of a leading Congolese politician, prompting the UN to send scores of peacekeepers in armoured vehicles to remove foreign diplomats trapped inside.

Heavy gunfire echoed through the Congolese capital today, with the shooting apparently centred close to the home of ex-rebel leader turned presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba.

Results from Congo’s historic elections today show President Joseph Kabila failing to win an outright majority, and set up a second round vote pitting him against a former rebel leader, officials announced.

Electoral officials in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) backed by riot police faced down stone-throwing boycotters to allow voters a second chance, underlining the challenge to democracy in Africa: keeping ethnic, regional and political disputes from reigniting into war.

THREE main militia groups in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have agreed to lay down their arms ahead of historic elections this weekend, the UN said yesterday.

DOZENS of ministers in Congo’s new power-sharing government were sworn in yesterday in a move that is hoped will end a war that has killed more than three million people in five years.

Dozens of ministers in Congo’s new power-sharing government were being sworn in today in a move that is hoped will end a war that has killed more than three million people in five years.

Congo Pygmies have demanded the United Nations prosecute government and rebel fighters accused of slaughtering and eating them as fighting continues in the country’s dense north-eastern jungles.

Hiding in the bushes, Amuzati Nzoli watched as rebel soldiers turned from killers into cannibals and ate his six-year-old nephew.

THE UN yesterday confirmed it had found evidence of cannibalism, mass executions, torture and rape