Two Nepalese UN peacekeepers freed in Congo, five still held capti

United Nations, June 28 (UNI) Congo's militia fighters have released two Nepalese UN peacekeepers they held captive for over a month while five others are still being held as hostages.

According to information received at the UN headquarters in New York, the two Nepalese peacekeepers serving with the United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which is also known by French acronym MONUC, were released yesterday, a month before national elections.

However, five other Nepalese blue helmets -- as the peacekeepers are known -- are still being held captive.

The seven were taken captive on May 28 in the Tsupu area in the troubled Ituri province following an attack by the militia attack on the peacekeepers that killed one Nepalese soldier and injuried three others.

Meanwhile, the UN mission called on the militia group known as the Front Nationaliste et Integrationniste which is believed to be responsible for the release of remaining five.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan welcomed the release saying he pleased to learn that the two peacekeepers were set free.

''MONUC continues to maintain contact with those responsible in order to bring about the immediate and unconditional release of the remaining five Nepalese peacekeepers,'' Mr annan said in a statement.

Armed militia in the strife-torn northeast region of DRC has been active after the end of a war that affected the vast central African nation since 1998.

Militiamen loyal to warlord Peter Karim Ituri's Lendu ethnic group have issued several demands, including ransom and the release of fellow militia fighters being held by the government.

Ituri is one of several parts of the DRC where violence continues despite three years of relative peace and the presence of the UN's biggest peacekeeping mission.

The July 30 presidential and parliamentary polls are meant to draw a line under the 1998-2003 war, which spread to six neighbouring countries and has killed four million people, mostly because of hunger and disease.

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