Groups Sign Deal to End Long Fight In E. Congo

Accord Portrayed As Key Initial Step

NAIROBI, Jan. 23 -- More than 25 warring militia groups, including one loyal to renegade Gen. Laurent Nkunda, signed an agreement Wednesday to end the relentless fighting in Congo's eastern forests that has uprooted more than 400,000 people in the past year alone.

The deal itself, which was signed by Congolese President Joseph Kabila and includes a cease-fire, does not solve the most difficult issues at the heart of the conflict. But for the first time, the various sides have agreed on what the problems are and a framework for addressing them, diplomats said.

"The agreement is not one that will bring peace instantaneously," said Timothy Shortley, a senior State Department official who was one of the Western diplomats pressing for the deal in the eastern provincial capital of Goma. "It's an agreement that provides a way forward."

The White House said in a statement the United States "welcomes the signing of a peace agreement" and urged speedy implementation.

The vast Central African nation of 66 million people has suffered through two civil wars since the fall of dictator Mobutu Sese Seko a decade ago, with the conflict playing out mainly in the mineral-rich east. An estimated 5.4 million people have been killed, either directly or through the deprivations conflict has brought, according to a recent survey by the International Rescue Committee.

A 2003 peace deal officially ended the most recent civil war, but fighting has continued among dozens of militia groups -- mostly consisting of poor young men who prey upon impoverished villagers -- despite the presence of the largest U.N. peacekeeping mission in the world.

The most troublesome group is led by Nkunda, a self-described born-again Christian and ethnic Tutsi with close ties to neighboring Rwanda.

Nkunda has said he is protecting Congolese Tutsis from the Hutu militias that perpetrated the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and then fled across the border into eastern Congo. The militias have never been disarmed.

The peace agreement signed Wednesday provides for a commission to deal with either demobilizing Nkunda's soldiers and members of other militia groups or reintegrating them into the national army. The commission will also address several of Nkunda's demands, including the return of Congolese Tutsis who have fled into Rwanda.

A separate agreement between the Congolese government and Rwanda signed late last year addresses the issue of disarming the Hutu militias and resettling them.

Analysts say the biggest challenge ahead is how to make the two agreements work together: Nkunda has vowed not to disarm before the Hutu militias do, and vice versa.

"The big issue is sequencing," said Jason Stearns, an independent analyst who is writing a book about Congo's wars. "Nkunda won't give up control until he sees results for him and the people backing him."