Congo peace corridor proposed

The agreement follows heavy fighting in Kisangani

Rwandan troops and their Congolese rebel allies are prepared to withdraw from strategic positions in the Democratic Republic of Congo, to allow the deployment of United Nations peacekeepers.

Rwanda said it was prepared to hand over front-line positions to the peacekeepers, to create a corridor between Rwanda and the Congolese army.

The RWandan-backed rebel movement, the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD), later announced that it was also prepared to pull back.

The United Nations has welcomed the proposal which could create a 200km-wide corridor, enabling observers from the UN Observer Mission in Congo (Monuc) to be effectively deployed.

The UN secretary general's representative for the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kamel Morjane said co-operation from all parties would be needed in order to be able to monitor the zone.

Rwanda, Uganda and the Congolese rebel movements are concerned about the presence within DR Congo of militia hostile to the Rwandan and Ugandan Governments.

A UN backed peace process in Congo has hit serious difficulties in recent weeks.

The Congolese government has vetoed the deployment of UN troops in government held areas and refused to co-operate with the mediator for Congo, former Botswana president, Ketumile Masire.

Since 1998 rebels and their backers have gained control of about half of DR Congo's territory.

Sudden decision

Until Tuesday, the RCD had insisted on keeping soldiers in the north-eastern city of Kisangani, saying the UN had not guaranteed that the city would not fall into the hands of troops loyal to Congolese President Laurent Kabila.

But now they say they will withdraw in line with the pull-back by Rwanda. Rwandan troops have already left Kisangani - as have Ugandan soldiers.

The Rwandan withdrawal was proposed "in order to continue in the spirit of disengagement," contained in the 1999 Lusaka ceasefire accords, according to Patrick Mazimhaka, special advisor to President Paul Kagame.

Both the rebels and the Rwandans say they are acting in good faith and are keen to help a peace process which has looked dangerously close to collapse in recent weeks.

However, there are still only a few hundred observers in Congo and it will probably be several weeks before peacekeeping battalions from countries like Morocco and Pakistan can be deployed. T

The UN Security Council is set to review Monuc's progress before the end of the month.

But before that Zambian President Frederick Chiluba is due to host a summit on Congo inviting all the main protagonists to Lusaka one year after the signing of a peace agreement.