UN envoy says Congo rebels want to join army

The leader of a rebellion in eastern Congo wants to merge his troops into the government army as part of a peace deal that would include protections for the African nation's ethnic minorities, a U.N. envoy said Monday.

The mediator, former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, said rebel commander Laurent Nkunda wants to meet with the government side to discuss political, economic and security issues. The envoy said previously that Congolese President Joseph Kabila "is not adverse to such a dialogue."

Talking with reporters after briefing U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Obasanjo said he does not consider Nkunda's demands "outrageous" and expressed confidence that the rebels and government can sit down to resolve their differences.

Years of sporadic violence in eastern Congo intensified in August and Nkunda's fighters have won control of large areas in fighting that has uprooted more than 250,000 people. The rebels have set up their own local administrations and collect taxes on goods moving through their territory.

Nkunda's critics say he is only interested in expanding his power and profiting from Congo's mineral wealth. Nkunda, a former general who quit Congo's army in 2004 to launch the rebellion, contends he is only trying to protect the region's ethnic Tutsis from Hutu militias that fled to Congo after Rwanda's 1994 genocide that killed more than 500,000 people, most of them Tutsis.

Obasanjo said that is the case Nkunda made in expressing interest in a peace deal with Congo's government, saying he wants to make sure minority groups are protected and secure.

"He asked for integration of his soldiers with the national army, and integration of those responsible for administration in the areas he occupied with the administrative cadre of the government," Obasanjo said.

"He will want some form of a guarantee to ensure that those from inside who are integrated are safe and secure. He also talks about good governance and a professional army, well-trained, well-equipped and well-disciplined."

Congo's army is a ragtag, poorly paid collection of the defeated army of ousted dictator Mobutu Sese Seko and several of the rebel groups that helped overthrow him, including Kabila's fighters.

Obasanjo said he asked Nkunda what he personally wants. "He said if his requests are met, he would only want to remain a career soldier."

"I don't see anything wrong with him wanting to be integrated into his national army," Obasanjo added.