GOMA, DR Congo (AFP) — Laurent Nkunda's rebels said Wednesday they were ready to meet the governor of Nord-Kivu province to discuss the conflict in the east of Democratic Republic of Congo.
"We are ready to welcome the governor of Nord-Kivu if it is for information contacts," Bertrand Bisimwa -- a spokesman for the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) -- told AFP.
"We are ready to receive to receive him for an information mission," he added. On Tuesday, the rebels said they would not deal with governor Julien Paluku if he was not acting of behalf the central government in Kinshasa.
"Our problem is that the option of negotiations was distorted by the government, which refused to give the governor a mandate to negotiate," the spokesman said.
For three months, Nord-Kivu has been the scene of fighting between Congolese government troops and the CNDP rebels -- triggering a new humanitarian crisis in the region.
Paluku said Monday he was ready to meet Nkunda, the cashiered Tutsi general leading the CNDP, in a move that the government in Kinshasa called "a local initiative".
Nkunda wants direct talks with President Joseph Kabila, and threatened to end a ceasefire and resume fighting on Saturday if such negotiations were not forthcoming.
Although he has unilaterally pulled his troops back from certain areas in the east of Congo, his fighters remain encamped just a few kilometres (miles) from the Nord-Kivu provincial capital Goma.
Kinshasa would prefer to deal with the CNDP within umbrella talks that bring together all armed groups active in the volatile region, near the border with Rwanda.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's special envoy, former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, warned Nkunda against seeking direct talks during a weekend visit when he met separately with both Kabila and Nkunda.
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