Rebels, negotiators reach deal in Congo

Government negotiators and rebel groups reached a deal to end fighting in Congo’s east, where about 800,000 people fled their homes during the last year, officials said Monday.

All parties agreed to the accord and scheduled a formal signing for today, said Vital Kamerhe, president of Congo’s National Assembly.

At a meeting in this eastern city, a representative from each negotiating delegation publicly voiced acceptance of the accord, with no one speaking against it.

Representatives for militia fighters known as the Mai Mai, who had been among the last holdouts and had walked out on earlier negotiating sessions, were among those accepting.

Kambasu Ngeve, head of a 10-person delegation representing Laurent Nkunda, the major insurgent leader, confirmed that negotiators reached an “agreement in principle.”

“We are on the eve of the signature of an act of disengagement that will put an end to fighting, to war in our country, so that we can begin humanitarian and development work,” Kamerhe said.

Kamerhe did not provide details of the agreement, but said it addressed key concerns such as amnesty for rebel fighters and troop pullouts.

Although the Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly known as Zaire, took a major step toward stability in 2006 by holding its first free and fair elections in more than four decades, President Joseph Kabila has struggled to contain a sporadic and bloody insurgency in the nation’s east.

Numerous militias, of which Nkunda’s is one of the largest, are accused of terrorizing villagers, raping women and forcing boys to enlist as fighters.

Government officials and representatives from numerous rebel groups began meeting in Goma, the main eastern city, on Jan. 6 in an attempt to bring peace.