UN to investigate Kinshasa ceasefire violations

United Nations observers have been sent to the Democratic Republic of Congo's northern province of Equateur to investigate alleged violations of a ceasefire agreement signed last year.

A UN spokesman Hamadoun Toure said reports from the region had been contradictory and the UN was unable to rely on statements from the rival sides without investigating what was happening on the ground.

The Congolese government army which is supported by Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe and opposition guerrillas of the Congolese Liberation Movement, backed by Uganda and Rwanda have been reporting outbreaks of violence in the country since May. The UN observer mission of some forty officers was established in Kinshasa to monitor the ceasefire accord.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service