Ugandan police held two key opposition leaders for a second day Wednesday after furious protests against an alleged ruling party ploy to oust the mayor of Kampala, police and opposition members said.

The capital's mayor Erias Lukwago and opposition leader Kizza Besigye were arrested Tuesday during protests ahead of a council vote expected this week on Lukwago's suspension for abuse of office.

Peace efforts between Democratic Republic of Congo and defeated M23 rebels will continue, Uganda's government said Tuesday, a day after the two sides failed to sign a much hoped for agreement.

The last-minute failure to sign a deal on Monday was a blow to international efforts to stabilize the African nation's conflict-prone east.

The Democratic Republic of Congo and defeated M23 rebels failed to sign a peace deal Monday hoped to be a key step in ending decades of war, after Kinshasa demanded the agreement be revised.

The "DRC delegation has aborted the signing of agreement with M23," Ugandan government spokesman Ofwono Opondo said, adding that the meeting was adjourned without a new date scheduled.

The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the defeated M23 rebels will Monday sign a peace deal, Uganda said, adding that it will not send the fleeing insurgents back across the border.

The M23 on Tuesday ended its 18-month insurgency after a resounding defeat at the hands of the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Democratic Republic of Congo's M23 guerrillas, including rebel chief Sultani Makenga, have surrendered en masse in Uganda, officers said Thursday, signalling the end of an 18-month insurgency.

The rebel surrender follows a crushing defeat at the hands of the U.N.-backed Congolese armed forces.

Over 5,000 refugees fleeing fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have escaped into neighboring Uganda this week, United Nations officials said Wednesday, warning that double that number are expected to cross the border.

"Fighting...is causing a large amount of displacement into Uganda," said Lucy Beck, a spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR, adding that 5,000 refugees had crossed the border since Monday.

Rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) said Saturday they are heading toward "major breakthroughs" with the Kinshasa government in peace talks in Uganda, possibly within hours.

Under Uganda's mediation, "major breakthroughs are about to be obtained in Kampala since the heavy involvement of the international community in the dialogue" between the two sides, the M23 movement said in a statement.

Uganda was on high alert Friday over fears of an attack similar to the bloody mall assault by Somalia's Shebab fighters in neighboring Kenya, where investigators continue to recover charred body parts.

At least 67 people were massacred in the upmarket Westgate shopping center in Nairobi when gunmen stormed the crowded complex on September 21, firing from the hip and hurling grenades at shoppers and staff.

A Ugandan court has given a symbolic six-hour jail term to a teenage girl who killed her rapist father in a case that has drawn a wave of public sympathy.

The 18-year-old girl, who is now pregnant after repeated attacks, had confessed to killing her father with a knife and machete, Peter Mugisha, a prosecutor in the case, told Agence France Presse Friday.

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.