DR Congo president to hold talks to form unity government

KINSHASA, DR Congo

Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi said he is going to begin discussions to form a unity government, as international pressure mounts for the Congolese government to resolve the crisis in the country's east.

M23 rebels, supported by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to UN experts, have been leading an insurgency in the central African country since last month.

The rebels captured the eastern city of Goma, a city of 2 million people, last month, as about 3,000 people were killed. The rebels seized another provincial capital to Goma's south, Bukavu, a city of more than a million people, earlier this week.

Bukavu sits roughly 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Burundi, whose troops have been fighting alongside the Congolese Army. Fighting between the Congolese army and M23 rebels has fanned fears of a wider regional war.

In some of his first statements since rebels captured the major cities, Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi told a meeting of the ruling Sacred Union coalition to not be distracted by internal quarrels.

"I lost the battle and not the war. I must reach out to everyone including the opposition. There will be a government of national unity," said Tshisekedi.

He didn't give more details on what that would entail or when it would happen.

Regional leaders have urged talks between M23 and the Congolese government. But Tshisekedi has previously ruled out such dialogue, saying the rebels were a Rwandan proxy army.