Nairobi/Goma  - A Tutsi rebel group that has been battling government forces in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo is sticking to its promise to withdraw soldiers from two fronts, the UN said Wednesday.

"Since late yesterday evening we have seen them begin to withdraw," Lieutenant-Colonel Jean-Paul Dietrich, military spokesman for the UN peacekeeping mission in DR Congo (MONUC) told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. "We have been patrolling and monitoring since this morning."

Rebel Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) has routed the Congolese army and seized control of territory in the eastern North Kivu province in recent weeks.

Nairobi/Bissau - Guinea Bissau goes to the polls Sunday in parliamentary elections the international community hopes will help turn the tide on South American cocaine-traffickers using the tiny West African nation as a hub to bring their drugs into Europe.

The nation has struggled with coups and uprisings since its independence from Portugal in 1974, and is still recovering from the 1998-9 civil war that took out much of its infrastructure.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), a leading state run telecom operator, has announced that it is considering acquiring companies in Africa and Middle East.

While commenting on the proposals, Mr. Kuldeep Goyal, BSNL chairman and managing director stated, “We are looking at developing economies such as Africa and Middle East countries.”

The company is proposing expansion in mobile and broadband sectors in the countries where telecom density is low.

Nairobi/Goma - Forces of rebel general Laurent Nkunda were suspected in a massacre of dozens of young men in the eastern Congo town of Kiwanja, BBC reported Friday morning.

BBC said the United Nations was looking into reports, coming after the rebel forces recaptured the town which pro-government Mai-Mai militias had briefly taken control of.

The report cited relief organisation workers as saying taht they found dozens of corpses of young men believed to have been Mai-Mai fighters, in the town.

Meanwhile the aid organisation Save the Children reported a massive rise in forced recruitment of child soldiers amid the heavy fighting in eastern Congo.

Nairobi/Goma - Thousands of civilians have been forced out of a town in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after fighting between rebels and a pro-government militia, which came despite a ceasefire.

The UN said that rebel general Laurent Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) clashed Tuesday and Wednesday with the pro-government Mai-Mai militia.

The CNDP then forced thousands of civilians out of Kiwanja, northeastern DR Congo under the pretext of searching for remaining militia, a BBC correspondent in the town said.

Aid agencies say that renewed fighting between the CNDP and government forces has displaced at least 250,000 people since late August.

Vatican City - The Vatican ann