Leaders Meet to Broker End of DR Congo War

Presidents from Africa's Great Lakes region gathered Thursday in Uganda for a fresh bid to broker a deal to end fighting in resource-rich eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Meetings first took place between DR Congo leader Joseph Kabila and his rival Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame -- who rejects accusations of backing rebel forces in Congo -- Ugandan foreign ministry spokesman Elly Kamahungye told Agence France Presse.

The meeting of the 11-member International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) -- the seventh such summit held to try to find a lasting solution -- comes amid a recent upsurge in violence.

Congolese troops, backed by a special United Nations force, launched a fresh assault against the M23 movement of army mutineers in the turbulent North Kivu province late last month.

But a draft deal hammered out by regional defense ministers on Wednesday proposed setting a three-day deadline for the restart of stalled talks between Kinshasa and the M23, with negotiations to wrap up within 14 days.

"M23 should put an end to all military activities, and stop war and threats of overthrowing the lawful government of DRC," the draft seen by AFP read.

"Pressure should be continually be exerted on the M23 and all other negative forces by the (U.N.) intervention brigade," it added.

There was no immediate response from the M23, and past demands for a swift deal to broker peace have been flouted.

Conflict in the fertile and valuable mining region has in the past dragged regional powers into the fighting, with both Rwanda and Uganda accused of backing the M23, claims they flatly deny.

Rwanda's Kagame also met separately with Tanzanian leader Jakaya Kikwete, following months of tense relations between their two nations.

Tanzanian troops form a key part of a newly deployed U.N. military intervention force specially mandated to take the offensive against rebel units.

U.N. special envoy Mary Robinson and African Union Commission chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma are also at the talks, which stretched late into Thursday at a luxury lakeside resort outside Kampala.

Robinson, the former president of Ireland, on Monday toured conflict zones in eastern Congo, where she demanded that M23 fighters "must cease violence, must disarm as the U.N. Security Council demanded".

She is expected to travel onto the Rwandan capital Kigali on Friday.

The M23 was launched by Tutsi soldiers who mutinied from Congo's army in April 2012 and turned their guns on their former comrades.

Last week the rebels moved back from positions around Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, which they seized for 12 days last November before pulling out under international pressure.

Talks between the M23 and Kinshasa began last year but broke down in May, and despite promises they would resume, have made little headway.

Rebel delegations are in Kampala, but it was not clear if they also were invited to hold talks on the sidelines of the summit.