GABORONE, Botswana (CNN) -- Rebels battling to oust President Laurent Kabila in the Democratic Republic of Congo agreed on Friday to consider a cease-fire proposal but reiterated their demand for round-table peace talks with him.

Rebel leader Ernest Wamba dia Wamba -- speaking to a peace mediation committee in Botswana's capital Gaborone -- said his forces were ready for a military showdown with Kabila and his allies, should Kabila continue to refuse direct talks.

The peace mediation committee is made up of ministers from Zambia, South Africa, Tanzania and Mozambique, which are all members of the Southern African Development Community. The Organization of African Unity and the United Nations are also involved in mediation efforts.

Friday's talks were aimed at soliciting the rebels' response to a peace plan put forward by an SADC meeting last month.

The chair of the Gaborone talks, Zambian Presidential Affairs Minister Eric Silwamba, told reporters that a cease-fire document had been presented to the rebels and they were looking at it.

"We've presented the rebels with a number of proposals to look at. They will study the proposals and come back to us," he said.

"The idea is the get the rebels to agree to the concept of a cease-fire and then the task of the regional guys will be to harmonize the differences between the rebels and the Kinshasa government," Silwamba said.

But, in an eight-point document distributed to delegates at talks in Gaborone, Wamba dia Wamba said a cease-fire demanded by regional leaders should be an outcome of negotiations and not a precondition to negotiations.

"We accept the principle of a cease-fire, there's no problem about that. But if we're going to be bound by it, be a signatory to it, then we have also to be participating in the whole conference," Wamba dia Wamba said.

OAU representative Sam Ibok described the mediation talks as "friendly." He said the committee would "report back to the regional (SADC) summit which should hopefully lead to the signing of a cease-fire agreement or a cessation of hostilities."

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the rebels, already controlling much of the eastern half of the country, continue to advance towards Lubumbashi, the southern copper mining capital.

The high command of Kabila's army admitted problems of morale and discipline when it executed 13 soldiers and officers last week for desertion and other offenses.

Ironically, it was the collapse of discipline and morale in the Zairian army that largely helped Kabila's own rebellion topple dictator Mobutu Sese Seko in May 1997 with the backing of Rwanda and Uganda.

That alliance fell apart over charges by the others that Kabila had not kept his promise to contain Rwandan and Ugandan rebels based in Congo.

But, to most Congolese, the unanswered question is why the combined force of the armies of at least five regional states backing Kabila has not proved effective against the rebels.

Reuters contributed to this report.