Nairobi/Goma - International charity Oxfam said Wednesday it was concerned for the safety of civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo as Rwandan troops entered the country to hunt down Hutu militia formed after the 1994 massacre in Rwanda.

Several thousand Rwandan soldiers entered eastern DR Congo on Tuesday under an agreement with the Congolese government.

The soldiers headed north from Goma, the provincial capital of the unstable North Kivu province, to find the militia.

Nairobi  - Tens of thousands of Kenyans celebrated Barack Obama's inauguration at parties across the east African nation as images of their favourite son were beamed onto big screens.

Thousands gathered at a public viewing at Nairobi's Kenyatta International Conference Centre, clapping and cheering as President Obama spoke.

In Kogelo, the Western Kenyan village where his late father grew up and where his grandmother still lives, residents slaughtered goats and bulls and feasted in Obama's honour.

Nairobi/Kigali - Agnes Ntamabyariro, a former Rwandan justice minister, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for her role in the 1994 genocide, reports said Tuesday.

The BBC reported that Ntamabyariro, who had a Hutu father and Tutsi mother, was convicted in a Kigali court Monday for conspiracy and incitement related to the genocide.

Hutu militia slaughtered over 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus within 100 days following the assassination of president Juvenal Habyarimana on April 6 1994.

Nairobi/Goma - Rwandan troops on Tuesday entered the Democratic Republic of Congo to hunt down Hutu rebel forces formed after the 1994 massacre in Rwanda, reports said Tuesday.

The United Nations peacekeeping force MONUC said in statement that it had noted the presence of the Rwandans, but was taking no part in the operation, which was agreed by the Congolese and Rwandan governments on December 5.

Local sources said that several thousand Rwandan troops had reached the Kibati refugee camp, near Goma - the provincial capital of the eastern North Kivu province.

Nairobi - At least 29 people died and 24 others were seriously injured in Kenya Monday after a truck collided head on with a bus, police said.

The accident occurred shortly after midnight on the main road between the capital Nairobi and the coastal town of Mombasa.

The two vehicles were travelling at high speed at the time of the collision, killing 26 bus passengers and three onboard the lorry on impact.

Road accidents are common in the East African nation, where reckless driving, often involving alcohol, combines with a run-down road network to create deadly conditions.

Nairobi- Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki on Friday appealed for 470 million dollars to feed 10 million people facing a food shortage in the East African nation.

Kibaki called a national emergency, blaming the shortages on drought, a disruption to planting by last year's post-election violence and high fertilizer costs.

However, the government is also investigating a scandal in which millions of bags of maize imported to address the crisis were allegedly sold on to South Sudan by a cartel involving agricultural ministry officials.