New York  - The UN Security Council decided Monday to keep its large peacekeeping operation another year in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with the main task of protecting civilians and improving security in the eastern part of the country.

The UN Mission in Congo (MONUC) is composed of more than 22,000 personnel, including 19,815 military troops, one of the largest UN peacekeeping forces in the world.

But MONUC is still dwarfed by the geographical size of Congo and the conflicts there. Its new mandate expires December 31, 2009.

Nairobi/Goma  - Hopes for lasting peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where a five-year war resulted in the deaths of over 5 million people, dimmed in 2008 as simmering tensions in the east boiled over into armed conflict.

Fighting between rebel Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) and government troops exploded in October after beginning to ramp up in August.

The CNDP, made up of around 5,000 well-organized and battle-hardened soldiers, routed the shambolic Congolese army and came within a whisker of taking the city of Goma, the capital of the eastern North Kivu province.

Nairobi - UN-brokered peace talks between Congolese rebels and the government aimed at cementing a lasting ceasefire have been suspended and will resume on December 17, the UN's special peace envoy to the Democratic Republic of Congo has said.

Former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo said in statement late Thursday that "steady progress" was being made on agreeing ground rules for later substantive talks.

Tutsi rebel group the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) and DR Congo officials arrived in Kenyan capital Nairobi on Monday for the first direct talks aimed at resolving the conflict.

However, neither CNDP leader Laurent Nkunda nor Congolese President Joseph Kabila attended the meeting.

Nairobi - UN-brokered peace talks between Congolese rebels and government officials have failed after three days of discussions in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

UN peace envoy and former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo said late Wednesday that the talks hit a brick wall after the rebels asked to discuss all of the Democratic Republic of Congo and not just the east of the country, where fighting has been taking place.

Tutsi rebel group the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) and DR Congo officials arrived in Nairobi Monday for the first direct talks aimed at resolving the conflict.

Geneva  - At least 134 children were separated from their parents during the recent outbreak of violence in North Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Tuesday.

So far, 15 children have been reunited with their families, in the one week since the international aid agency started a reunification programme.

The ICRC said it was working with the local Congolese Red Cross to register the children and find their families.

Amsterdam  - Can a soap opera educate people and stop ethnic violence? Dutch non-government organization Radio La Benevolencija thinks it can.

The organization produces radio shows and media campaigns in central Africa with the aim of helping locals understand the workings of political propaganda and withstand incitement to ethnic and racial violence.

La Benevolencija also plans to develop activities in the Netherlands, to help the Dutch cope with their own ethnic tensions.

"We are in the business of media education," says George Weiss, founder and director of the Amsterdam-based NGO. "We teach people to recognize incitement so that they can act against it."