"We have detained four men who came from Aru, near the Ugandan border, and seized munitions they were taking to Mungwalu," said Mbusa Nyamwisi, leader of the Rally for Congolese Democracy-Liberation Movement (RCD-ML) and now the transitional government's minister for regional cooperation.

Mungwalu is situated some 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of the Ituri's main town Bunia, where a French-led European Union stabilisation force is based.

Nyamwisi said they had discovered 68 mortar shells and 21,000 rounds of ammunition on board a privately-owned DRC plane at Beni airport.

The RCD-ML, which controls the Nord-Kivu province where the airport is situated, reported that the detained men had said the ammunition was destined for the Lendu militia.

Inter-ethnic massacres between the Hema and the Lendu in Ituri have claimed the lives of 50,000 people since 1999 and displaced half a million others.

According to the RCD-ML, the ammunition came from neighbouring Uganda, which has been involved in fighting in the country for years.

On Monday, the ethnic Alur community in Ituri complained about "neighbouring countries that arm ethnic militias... using entry points along the Ugandan border with RDC".

The weapons have been handed over to the UN mission in the DRC, known as MONUC, and was due to be destroyed on Thursday, Nyamwisi said.

Two MONUC military observers were killed in Mungawalu in May.

WAR.WIRE