GOMA (Congo), Nov 4: Congo’s government rejected a rebel warlord’s demand for direct talks to solve the conflict that has left hundreds of thousands hungry and homeless in a mineral-rich eastern province. The rebels warned that the government’s refusal on Tuesday could lead to more fighting.

Minor skirmishes broke out between Gen Laurent Nkunda’s Rwandan-backed Tutsi rebels and a pro-government militia. And Nkunda’s spokesman alleged that neighboring Angola and Zimbabwe were mobilising to help Congo’s government, raising fears of a broader regional war.

Congo President Joseph Kabila’s administration is “open for dialogue” with all rebel and militia groups in the region but will not meet Nkunda’s group alone, government spokesman Lambert Mende said in Kinshasha, the capital.

“Apart from dialogue, all that remains is war,” responded rebel spokesman Bertrand Bisimwa. “If they won’t negotiate with us, then they leave us little choice. We will start fighting again and we will continue until we take Kinshasa. We’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.”

After a nearly weeklong cease-fire, fighting erupted on Tuesday at Kiwanja, north of Goma, between rebels and a pro-government Mai Mai militia, UN spokeswoman Sylvie van den Wildenberg said. Uruguayan and Indian peacekeepers were caught in the crossfire but there were no reports of casualties.

The Mai Mai are one of dozens of small militia groups operating in Congo’s lawless east, which the government and UN peacekeepers have struggled to secure for years.

A two-month surge in Nkunda’s rebellion near the Rwanda border has mostly abated, with his troops entrenched around Goma. But Bisimwa alleged on Tuesday that Angola and Zimbabwe were mobilising troops to back government forces against the rebels.

“(The groundwork) is being laid for a generalised war in the region, and we will fight because we are obliged to defend ourselves,” Bisimwa said. “Foreign troops (are) preparing to make war against us.”

Bisimwa offered no proof of the accusation, which Zimbabwe denies. Angola, a longtime ally of Congo’s government, has not yet commented. Congo appealed last week for Angola’s help.

The fighting in eastern Congo is fuelled by tensions left over from the 1994 slaughter of a half-million Tutsis in neighbouring Rwanda and Congo’s back-to-back wars from 1998-2002, which drew in a half-dozen countries. Angola and Zimbabwe fought for Congo in exchange for access to copper and diamonds, while Rwanda and Uganda backed rival rebel factions in the mineral-rich east.

Bisimwa claimed some Angolan troops were already in the lakeside city of Bukavu, south of Goma. The UN on Tuesday accused Rwanda of firing tanks or artillery into Congo at the height of fighting last week. Rwanda denies its forces are involved.

An envoy from Zimbabwe, Bright Matonga, also dismissed the rebel allegations and noted that a 17,000-strong UN peacekeeping force was already in Congo.—AP