Congo government agrees to meet with rebel envoys

Nkunda

president Kabila

Congolese officials agreed Friday to talk peace with rebels whose recent offensive has brought the country's eastern region back to the brink of all-out war.Foreign Minister Alexis Thambwe Mwamba said in a communique following a meeting with his Rwandan counterpart that Congo is now willing to meet envoys of rebel leader Nkunda discuss a path to long-term peace and to formalize a cease-fire deal. The talks are scheduled to begin on Monday in Nairobi, Kenya.Years of low-level fighting in eastern Congo intensified with a rebel offensive Nkunda launched Aug. 28 that has driven more than 250,000 people from their homes. Nkunda, a Tutsi, is trying to drive from the Congo about 1,500 Hutu militiamen. Many of the Hutus are believed to be Rwandan exiles who fled to Congo after Rwanda's 1994 genocide, in which more than 500,000 people, most of them Tutsis, were slaughtered. Nkunda has insisted on direct talks with the government, which had resisted until Friday. Nkunda was not immediately available for comment.

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