Congo rebel leader 'backs cease-fire'

The leader of Congo's main rebel group agreed Sunday to back a United Nations-brokered cease-fire amid efforts to bring an end to a fresh wave of violent unrest and deal with a worsening humanitarian crisis in the conflict-devastated country, according to a U.N. special envoy.

U.N. special envoy Olusegun Obasanjo, left, poses with Congolese rebel leader Laurent Nkunda after talks.

Former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo said rebel leader Laurent Nkunda had promised to support the cease-fire and U.N. peace iniatives following a two-hour meeting in Jomba, a rebel-held town near Congo's eastern border with Uganda, The Associated Press reported.

"Today is a great day for us because we were losing many men and material. Now we have a message of peace. We should work with this mission," Nkunda said, according to AP.

Fighting between government forces and Nkunda's rebels has displaced more than 250,000 people -- adding to roughly 800,000 already driven from their homes by previous violence, according to United Nations figures.

Obasanjo's meeting with Nkunda followed talks with Congolese President Joseph Kabila in the capital, Kinshasa. Obasanjo said Kabila had expressed willingness to meet Nkunda but added that negotiations were still at an "exploratory stage."

He said he would tell Nkunda that the international community expected the warring sides to agree to a "durable cease-fire to address the issue of humanitarian crisis and tragedy," followed by a "durable peace and political stability."

The conflict in Congo has been complicated by ethnic tensions, the presence of a myriad of rebel factions and by the involvement of neighboring countries including Rwanda and Angola. Explainer: Behind Congolese conflict

Nkunda, a Tutsi, has repeatedly blamed the Congolese government for failing to protect Tutsis from attacks by Rwandan Hutus who fled over the border following the 1994 genocide that left hundreds of thousands of Tutsis dead.

On Friday Obasanjo met Angolan President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos, who told him there were no Angolan troops operating in the country, AP said. Obasanjo is next due to meet Rwandan President Paul Kagame.

Fresh fighting broke out Sunday in the town of Ndeko, 90 kilometers (50 miles) north of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, according to a spokesman for U.N. peacekeepers.

Col. Jean-Paul Dietrich said the fighting was "heavy" and had begun early in the morning. It was unclear who was involved, AP said.

On Saturday, the U.N. said it was considering relocating a refugee camp for up to 70,000 people near Goma to avoid the inhabitants getting caught up in the renewed fighting.

U.N. official Leila Zerrougui said there was a "real chance" that fighting could break out at Kibati, 10 kilometers north of Goma. She said Congolese soldiers had also visited the camp and threatened to steal from the refugees.

"We have already set up what's required for the refugees but that does not mean sending them back home," said Zerrougui. "We want to move them to another camp we will arrrange for them so they're not caught up in fighting. But all of that is under review."

On Friday, the U.N. World Food Program started distributing several tons of food to rebel-held areas for the first time since October, a food program spokesman said.

Peter Smerdon said a dozen trucks, escorted by a U.N. peacekeeping force, brought in food to distribute in the towns of Rutshuru and Kiwanja, north of Goma.

Red Cross Secretary-General Jacques Katshitshi said conditions in refugee camps in the region were "extremely difficult, " according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.