DR Congo rebels leave captured town

Rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo have withdrawn from the south-eastern lakeside town of Moliro, which they took two weeks ago.

The announcement was made in Kinshasa by the United Nations special envoy, Amos Namanga Ngongi.

The attack on Moliro by the Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD), a Rwandan-backed faction, was the largest reported ceasefire violation in a year.

It prompted the Kinshasa Government to walk out of peace talks taking place in South Africa.

The government of President Joseph Kabila returned to the negotiating table last Thursday, after the UN Security Council condemned the raid and told the rebels to leave Moliro.

Mammoth task

The RCD said it would leave the town if UN peacekeepers deployed to prevent a government counter-attack.

Kabila's men came back to the negotiating table

A team of unarmed military observers was flown to Moliro last week.

The talks in the South African resort of Sun City bring together Congolese officials, rebel factions, opposition political parties, as well as church and civic groups.

The so-called "Inter-Congolese Dialogue" has been given a deadline of 12 April to come up with a new constitution and power-sharing institutions.

Delegates have the mammoth goal of resolving a war which has divided Congo into at least three parts and brought in the armies of six other African nations.