DR Congolese rebel leader Laurent Nkunda has agreed to take part in UN-backed peace talks, but fighting between the army and rebels continues in the east despite his declared support for a ceasefire.
After meeting UN special envoy Olusegun Obasanjo in DR Congo's North Kivu province, Mr Nkunda said he had agreed to three requests from him - to respect a ceasefire, open a humanitarian corridor to aid refugees, and support the UN peace initiative.
But he had asked Mr Obasanjo, a former Nigerian head of state, to tell DR Congo President Joseph Kabila's government to also respect a suspension of military hostilities.
Speaking later in the North Kivu provincial capital Goma, before flying to Kigali in neighbouring Rwanda, Mr Obasanjo said the Tutsi rebel chief had agreed to take part in UN-sponsored peace negotiations in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.
But he did not specify a date and did not expect it would involve face-to-face talks with President Kabila, which Nkunda wants.
However, Mr Obasanjo, who met Joseph Kabila on Saturday, said the president had told him he was ‘not averse to negotiation’.
Weeks of fighting between Nkunda's Tutsi rebels and government troops and their militia allies have displaced around a quarter of a million civilians, creating a humanitarian crisis.
President Kabila has so far rejected negotiations.
