A Congolese former militia warlord Thomas Lubanga, has been set free after serving a landmark 14-year term, for war crimes handed down by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Lubanga was greeted by about 100 supporters, on his release from jail in Kinshasa on Sunday.

In 2006, he was the first person to be arrested under a warrant from the ICC in the Netherland capital city of Hague, where he went on trial in 2009, accused of enlisting child soldiers under 15.

Lubanga was sentenced to 14 years behind bars in 2012, and has served the full term.

In December 2015, he was transferred from the ICC prison to Kinshasa, to serve out the rest of his sentence with fellow Congolese warlord Germain Katanga, who was also convicted by the ICC.

His release comes at a time of unrest in his native region of Ituri, in the DRC's volatile east.