Nairobi, Kinshasa  - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Tuesday called on warring factions in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to respect the civilian population.

The ICRC said over 100,000 civilians have been forced to flee since fighting resumed between renegade Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda's forces and government troops in late August.

Nairobi/Kinshasa  - The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has demanded the immediate release of 90 schoolchildren it says were abducted in the Democratic Republic of Congo by a notorious Ugandan rebel group.

The agency said local authorities informed them that the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) took 50 children from the village of Kiliwa and 40 from a secondary school in Duru in the northeast of the sprawling nation, which borders Uganda.

"UNICEF demands the unconditional release of the abducted children," Julien Harneis, UNICEF's Chief of Field Operations in eastern DR Congom said.

Nairobi/Kinshasa  - Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo are to launch a probe after 13 people died during a stampede at a football stadium prompted by allegations of witchcraft, reports said Tuesday.

Eyewitnesses told the BBC that those who died were trapped at the exit of the stadium in Butembo, eastern Congo after fans fled a volley of tear gas fired by police.

The trouble started when the goalkeeper of the Nyuki team threw something into the net of opposing team Socozaki at half-time.

Nairobi/Kinshasa - Fighting has broken out between rebels and the army in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Nations said.

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo (MONUC) said that rebels aligned with rebel General Laurent Nkunda and government soldiers exchanged fire for around eight hours in the North Kivu province on Thursday.

The fighting was the first major clash since a peace deal was signed with various rebel factions in the eastern town of Goma this January.

Nairobi, Kinshasa - A boat accident in the Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC) left at least 42 people dead and 115 missing, Congolese
radio reported Friday.

Radio Okapi said the boat sank Thursday night on the Oubangui river
near Bosobolo while on its way to the Central African Republic. The
passengers were from both countries.

Only 22 passengers were rescued, the local authorities said, and the chances of further survivors were said to be slim.

In the DRC many people travel by boat because of the massive