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Congo peace talks in preparation stage

Hundreds of officials have de-scended on this eastern outpost to begin preparations for upcoming peace talks even as fighting continued in the tangled forests of eastern Congo.

Missing from the gathering was the warlord Laurent Nkunda, whose rebellion, staged from the jungles surrounding Goma, is at the heart of the spiraling conflict.

In a telephone interview on Thursday, his second in command said Nkunda had not yet been invited to the peace conference, which is scheduled to begin in Goma on Jan. 6.

"If we receive the invitation, we will be there -- no trouble. We are here for peace and not for war," said Bwambale Kakolele, the rebel leader's military commander.

But he said the government was continuing to attack Nkunda's positions as officials rolled into the provincial capital to discuss peace.

"Even this morning these people ... have attacked our troops in Rugari," Kakolele said. "We do not understand."

Vital Kamerhe, the president of Congo's National Assembly, said Nkunda will be invited to the conference and it is important that he be represented.

"I believe he has said that he will stop the war and he wants talks to take place, and that is an important declaration," Kamerhe said.

Kamerhe emphasized, however, that the talks are designed to start a dialogue between all parties to Congo's conflict -- not just Nkunda.

"The government has decided to talk about peace, security, and development. This is not a talk between the government and the CNDP ([he National Council for the Defense of the People, the political wing of Nkunda's militia]. It's a dialogue between all," Kamerhe said.

Fighting in eastern Congo has escalated dramatically since August, as rival rebel militias have clashed over the forested territory. Nkunda's army is one of the most powerful, comprised of more than a thousand men. In an effort to dislodge the warlord's army, the government of Congo at one point launched an offensive but was forced to retreat after two weeks.

An estimated 800,000 people have fled their homes this year as a result of the clashes. Rapes, including of infants, have become common, as has the raiding of schools by Nkunda's men to recruit child soldiers.

Sylvie Van Den Wildenberg, a UN spokeswoman based in Goma, confirmed that fighting had taken place on Thursday, but said government troops had defended a town from rebel infiltration. The UN, which has a 17,000-member peacekeeping force in Congo, has pressured the government to resolve the conflict in the east.

Humanitarian organizations say the situation is worse than any the country has seen since the end of a five-year civil war in 2003.

Kakolele, Nkunda's second in command, said the rebel leader was prepared to come to the talks.

"We must discuss. There are a lot of things that we can discuss. In the conference we are going to sit together with the government," he said. "We ask the government to share the problem together and share security together."
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