U.N. concerned by military buildup around Goma

KINSHASA/UNITED NATIONS - Talks to end a two-year insurgency in eastern Congo stalled on Monday after the government rejected a call for amnesty for M23 rebel leaders as the United Nations expressed concern at a military buildup by the group around the provincial capital Goma.

Congolese President Joseph Kabila's government and the M23 rebels had agreed on two-thirds of a draft deal during recent talks in neighboring Uganda, U.N. special envoy to the Great Lakes region, Mary Robinson, told the U.N. Security Council.

"However, the parties found it difficult to agree on certain contentious and difficult issues that had remained problematic throughout the talks, namely the amnesty, disarmament and integration of M23," Robinson told the 15-member council.

"They have agreed to reconvene soon in order to overcome their differences," she said via video link from Addis Ababa.

During closed-door Security Council consultations after her public briefing, several diplomats said Robinson told them that Rwandan President Paul Kagame had conveyed a personal message to the M23 delegation to encourage them to reach a compromise.

U.N. experts have repeatedly accused Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo's neighbor to the east, of supporting the M23 rebellion, a charge Kigali has robustly denied. Kagame did not respond to an immediate request for comment on whether he had contacted the M23.

Robinson visited Kagame in Kigali on Friday with envoys from the United States, the European Union and the African Union.

"The president believed that while the M23 was not Rwanda's issue, a peace agreement between the rebel group and the government of the DRC would benefit the entire region," she told the Security Council during her public briefing.

The Congolese government said it strongly opposed a blanket pardon for the commanders of the Tutsi-led rebellion and against reintegrating their fighters into the national army. M23 accused the government delegation of refusing to cooperate with its chief negotiator and of seeking a return to hostilities.

Martin Kobler, head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo known as MONUSCO, told the Security Council that in recent days "we have observed considerable military build-up on both sides of the front line."
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Rebels clash with army in east Congo after talks stall

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Congo's M23 rebels clashed with government troops on Friday near the eastern city of Goma, a rebel leader said, in the first heavy fighting in the region in nearly two months.

The clash came days after peace talks broke down in the Ugandan capital Kampala, where the Congolese government said it had refused the demands of the 20-month-old rebel movement for an amnesty for its leaders and its reintegration into the army.

M23 says it has no desire to rejoin the Congolese forces.

General Sultani Makenga, M23's military commander, said the rebels came under attack at 4 a.m. local time (0200 GMT) on Friday at Kanyamohoro, around 15 km (10 miles) north of Goma, the largest city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

"We are going to defend our positions," Makenga told Reuters by telephone.

An army spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

The United Nations mission in Congo (MONUSCO) is reviewing the situation on the ground before deciding whether to help the army in its operations, MONUSCO spokesperson Sy Koumbo said.

A Reuters reporter in Goma said the fighting was intense and continuous on Friday morning as Congolese army troops bombarded rebel positions with heavy artillery.

South African and Tanzanian troops, part of a new U.N. Intervention Brigade with a tough mandate to crush armed groups, were present near the frontline but did not join the combat.

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