KINSHASA, 15 Dec 2005 (IRIN) - Almost 25 million voters in the DRC could prepare the way for the country's first presidential and parliamentary elections if they accept the draft constitution that is to be presented to them on Sunday in a referendum, senior diplomats said in Kinshasa.Full report

NAIROBI, 9 Dec 2005 (IRIN) - The World Bank has approved a US $125-million grant to help the Democratic Republic of Congo rebuild its agricultural production and enhance food security, the bank said on Thursday. Full report

NAIROBI, 7 Dec 2005 (IRIN) - The 2006 annual UN appeal to donors for humanitarian aid for the Great Lakes region, which is for US $154.5 million, has begun focusing more on recovery efforts while still providing emergency relief, UN officials said at the appeal's launch on Tuesday.Full report

AMSTERDAM, 6 Dec 2005 (IRIN) - The European Union commissioner for development and humanitarian aid, Louis Michel, has called for the revival of the Economic Community of the Great Lakes Countries that ceased to exist in the mid-1990s as a result of war in the region.Full report

NAIROBI, 6 Dec 2005 (IRIN) - Medecins Sans Frontieres says that the army in northern Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo has blocked relief workers from entering the area since beginning a military campaign against local militias there in mid-November. Full report

KINSHASA, 6 Dec 2005 (IRIN) - The search for possible victims of an earthquake near the lakeside town of Kalemie in eastern Congo continued along the shores of Lake Tanganyika on Tuesday, humanitarian and provincial authorities in Goma, capital of North Kivu Province, said. Full report

NAIROBI, 6 Dec 2005 (IRIN) - Tens of thousands of refugees in the Great Lakes region have started returning home, but without adequate support they could reignite conflicts and end up joining the millions of people displaced within their own countries, a senior UN official said on Tuesday. Full report

NEW YORK, 2 Dec 2005 (IRIN) - The high US$4.7 billion price tag on the United Nations’ latest global appeal, is because there are currently a large number of humanitarian operations and natural disasters, according to Jan Egeland, the UN’s under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator. Full report

AMSTERDAM, 2 Dec 2005 (IRIN) - Norway launched a programme on Friday to support culture and sports in developing countries, especially among people in conflict zones such as Africa's Great Lakes region.Full report

BRUSSELS, 1 Dec 2005 (IRIN) - University of Kinshasa, formerly known as Lovanium University, was founded in 1954 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) when the country was a...Full report

DRC: Reintegrating Ituri's ex-militias, an uphill task

DRC: Insecurity creates food shortages in Ituri

DRC: Interview with Bernard Lututala Mumpasi, rector of Kinshasa University

CONGO-DRC: Resumption of river traffic a great relief to the public

DRC-RWANDA: Interview with Anastase Munyandekwe, spokesman for the Hutu-dominated FDLR

DRC: Interview of the administrator of UNICEF's education programme, Mohamed Fall.