Congo rebels quit border town

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By Joe Bavier

KIBATI, Congo (Reuters) - Congolese Tutsi rebels withdrew on Monday from an eastern border town in what they said was a gesture to persuade President Joseph Kabila's government to open peace talks with them.

United Nations peacekeepers said rebel forces loyal to renegade General Laurent Nkunda had pulled out of Ishasha, on Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern frontier with Uganda.

The rebels had seized the town on Thursday, sending thousands of refugees fleeing over the border in the latest upsurge of conflict in Congo's eastern North Kivu province.

The pullout from Ishasha followed a meeting on Saturday between Nkunda and a U.N. special envoy, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who criticised the rebels for seizing territory despite a cease-fire Nkunda himself declared.

Obasanjo is trying to set up direct talks between the rebel leader and President Kabila to end weeks of rebel advances which have displaced more than a quarter of a million civilians, causing a humanitarian emergency in the mineral-rich state.

"We have decided to withdraw from Ishasha because when we secured it at the weekend everyone said we had breached the cease-fire," rebel spokesman Bertrand Bisimwa said.

"This should be seen as a sign of good will by the government of President Kabila and they should agree to our call for peace talks," he told Reuters.

Nkunda, who says he is defending Congolese Tutsis from Rwandan Hutu militia enemies, has threatened war if Kabila refuses talks with him on Congo's security and on the rights of ethnic minorities.

A spokesman for the U.N. mission said a patrol of U.N. peacekeepers confirmed the Tutsi rebels had quit Ishasha. But rebel fighters still occupied Nyamilima, 20 km (13 miles) to the south, and still controlled most of the road leading from Kiwanja to the Ugandan border.

CALLS FOR EU FORCE

Calls have mounted for Europe to send a rapid reaction force to North Kivu to help protect civilians. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has asked Europe to help out with a temporary force to bridge a delay of at least two months before extra U.N. troops can deploy.

The 17,000-strong U.N. force has failed to halt the violence in a country the size of Western Europe.

Belgium, Congo's former colonial master, has said it is ready to contribute troops to a temporary EU force but says three or four other EU allies should also participate.

"We are committed to having boots on the ground, whether others can remains to be seen. We would not go alone on a national basis," Belgian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bart Ouvry told Reuters in Brussels at the weekend.

However, over a month since France, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, first suggested the idea, some European powers are known to be reluctant to send troops.

"We certainly know that both the UK and Germany have been very reluctant to send troops," said Anneke Van Woudenberg, a researcher for New York-based Human Rights Watch.

Aid agencies have been clamouring for more international military muscle to protect their humanitarian operations.

The U.N. Human Rights Council on Monday condemned abuses against civilians and called on government and rebel forces to allow humanitarian aid to reach those in need.

"We're suffering. Do everything you can to bring us peace. Send French troops," said one Congolese refugee, Mukagaga Tegera, her baby daughter tied to her back.

French Secretary of State for Human Rights Rama Yade, who visited North Kivu at the weekend, said any decision on an EU force for Congo would require consultations within the bloc.

EU soldiers previously intervened in Congo in 2003 to halt militia violence in northeast Ituri district that grew out of a broader 1998-2003 war, and to protect successful 2006 elections.

(For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/)

(Reporting by Frank Nyakairu in Kigali, Joe Bavier in Kinshasa, Laura MacInnis in Geneva and David Brunnstrom in Brussels; Writing by Pascal Fletcher; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

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