Congo's main rebel group says it will no longer honor peace accord

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Congo's main rebel group has said it will no longer honor a two-month-old peace accord after government forces allegedly killed 100 civilians in four days of fighting.

Congo's main rebel group has said it will no longer honor a two-month-old peace accord after government forces allegedly killed 100 civilians in four days of fighting.

The main wing of the Congolese Rally for Democracy said it did not believe the agreement would bring peace to Congo and threatened to resume an all-front war.

"If there are new attacks, we will open all fronts with the final objective of taking Kinshasa by force," rebel spokesman Kien-Kiey Mulumba said from the eastern rebel stronghold of Goma.

The rebel declaration followed charges that government troops had carried out massacres in the northwestern villages of Bekili, Ngomi and Isongo.

Rwanda and Uganda, the rebels' main backers, urged restraint and said they still hoped the agreement could be saved.

Maj. Emmanuel Ndahiro, the Rwandan army spokesman, said Rwandan troops in Congo were not involved in the fighting.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and his Rwandan counterpart, Pasteur Bizimungu, on Monday reiterated their support for the peace agreement.

Rwandan officials said the two leaders had agreed to contact Angola and Zimbabwe to persuade Kabila to respect the cease-fire.

Zimbabwe and Angola were apparently not involved in the attacks against rebel positions, officials said.

Signatories to the peace accord signed in Lusaka, Zambia, include the rebels and their allies, Rwanda and Uganda, as well as President Laurent Kabila and his supporters, Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia.