Nairobi/Kinshasa - Fighting has broken out between rebels and the army in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Nations said.

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo (MONUC) said that rebels aligned with rebel General Laurent Nkunda and government soldiers exchanged fire for around eight hours in the North Kivu province on Thursday.

The fighting was the first major clash since a peace deal was signed with various rebel factions in the eastern town of Goma this January.

"The first thing we did was appeal to all the parties to stop the hostilities," MONUC military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jean-Paul Dietrich told the UN News Centre. "We have also sent out patrols to determine what has actually happened, and we have combat helicopters on standby."

Some reports said that dozens of soldiers were injured from both sides, but there was no clear information on whether anybody was killed.

Dietrich said it was not obvious who started the fighting, but said that something had been bound to happen after recent tensions.

Western diplomats earlier this month warned that the situation in the east of the DRC was becoming increasingly tense as various groups rearmed.

The UN believes that Nkunda - a renegade Tutsi general - is trying to expand his sphere of influence in the region.

The January peace accords were designed to end sporadic clashes that occurred in 2007, four years after the war in the DRC officially ended.

Over 5 million people are estimated to have died as a result of the long conflict in the resource-rich country.

The conflict is often referred to as the African World War due to the large number of different armed forces involved. (dpa)