UN condemns DR Congo battle

The United Nations Security Council has condemned last week's fighting between Ugandan and Rwandan troops, who ignored a ceasefire arrangement in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

A UN statement issued in New York said the two sides had caused heavy loss of life in the northern Congolese city of Kisangani by turning their guns on each other in violation of agreements to withdraw.

The Rwandan and Ugandan troops, who support rival Congolese rebel factions, ended their week-long battle on Sunday but still face each other across a river in Kisangani.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Monday that several hundred people were killed, and more than a thousand wounded, during the Kisangani battle. Foreign ministers from the countries involved in the Congolese conflict are due in New York on Thursday to discuss the future of the UN peacekeeping mission, which will be deployed when all fighting has ceased.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service