05/09/13 Reuters: African mediators in Congo conflict call for talks in three days

Democratic Republic of Congo's
government and M23 rebels began Ugandan-hosted talks after the rebels briefly
seized the city of Goma
late last year. However, negotiations have stalled and heavy fighting has
resumed in recent weeks.

Congo's army, backed by a
new U.N. intervention brigade, with a tough mandate to crush armed groups, has
beaten back rebels from positions in the hills overlooking Goma but it has not
extended gains deep into M23 territory.

The next round of
discussions should last for a maximum of 14 days "during which maximum
restraint must be exercised on the ground to allow for talks to conclude,"
mediating heads of state from the International Conference on the Great Lakes
Region (ICGLR) said in a joint statement.

The communiqué did not say
what steps regional leaders would take if their appeal was not met.

Congo's government was not immediately available for comment but talks with
the rebels are unpopular in Congo,
where residents are tired of years of fighting. Kinshasa has in the past called for the
rebels to disarm ahead of any talks.

The rebels have said an
interim deal signed in Ethiopia
last year entitled them to retake positions they occupied before being driven
back by U.N.-backed government troops last week.

"If there is no
solution from a dialogue then we have the right to take (Kibati) back,"
rebel chief Bertrand Bisimwa told Reuters, referring to a hilltop town
overlooking Goma.

M23 took up arms last year
accusing Kinshasa
of reneging on the terms of a 2009 deal to end a previous uprising.

Tensions have been fuelled
by accusations by U.N. experts that Rwanda is backing the rebels. Kigali denies supporting M23 but last week threatened to
send its army into Congo
after it accused its neighbor of shelling its territory.

Millions of people have
died from violence, disease and hunger since the 1990s as foreign-backed ethnic
rebel groups have fought for control of eastern Congo's
rich deposits of gold, diamonds and tin, destabilizing the Great
Lakes region.