November 7, 1999
Web posted at: 5:36 a.m. EST (1036 GMT)

KIGALI, Rwanda -- Rebel leaders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo renounced their peace agreement with the government of President Laurent Kabila on Sunday after attacks on their positions by Kabila's troops.

"The Lusaka cease-fire no longer applies. It is null and void," Congolese Liberation Movement leader Jean-Pierre Bemba told Reuters on Sunday.

Bemba said 300 government troops had attacked his troops' positions at Dongo, on the border of the Central African Republic, on Friday. They were beaten back, and the rebels, known as the MLC, were engaged in hot pursuit.

"The Kinshasa authorities have effectively renounced the Lusaka accord. The MLC has decided to react to any attack and reserves the right to pursue the struggle for the total liberation of the Congo," Bemba said.

MESSAGE BOARD Congo peace

Government officials in Kinshasa were not immediately available for comment.

Three rebel groups signed a peace agreement in July in the Zambian capital Lusaka, along with Kabila's government; his allies, Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia; and Rwanda and Uganda, which supported rebel groups inside the Congo.

Ernest Wamba Dia Wamba, whose wing of the rebel Congolese Rally for Democracy is based in Kisangani, also announced over the weekend that his forces would no longer observe the cease-fire, his aides said.

A third rebel group -- another wing of the Rally for Democracy, based in the eastern Congo -- said it would not yet renounce the Lusaka pact. But a spokesman said the group's patience was running out.

Kin-Key Mulumba said troops from his faction had come under attack by government forces in Bikili and Bokungu, about 850 kilometers (530 miles) northeast of the capital, Kinshasa.

"I think cannon will roar again because of Kabila," the spokesman, Mulumba said.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.