Nairobi  - Congolese rebels and government officials were in the Kenyan capital Nairobi Monday for talks aimed at cementing a ceasefire in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The talks mark the first direct conversation between the government and Tutsi rebel group the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), which launched a major advance in October.

The CNDP had threatened to pull out of the talks after the DR Congo government invited various other militia to take part, but early Monday it looked like the meeting would go ahead.

"We are here in Nairobi and the talks will begin this afternoon," Bertrand Bisimwa, a spokesman for the CNDP, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Nairobi  - Over 90,000 civilians who fled heavy fighting in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo are unaccounted for, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said Friday.

UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said that the agency had taken advantage of a lull in the fighting to enter the Rutshuru area, 80 kilometres north of the Goma, the capital of North Kivu province.

The UNCHR team found that three UNCHR-run camps for internally displaced in the area - Nyongera, Kasasa and Dumez - had been forcefully emptied and destroyed.

Three other makeshift camps were found to be empty.

Geneva  - The United Nations Human Rights Council was unable to complete a special session Friday on the situation in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and deferred making conclusions until it would reconvene Monday afternoon.

The African Group, represented by Egypt, tried to have the session closed, a move opposed by Western nations led by France who wanted the council to reach a clear decision, the stand ultimately adopted.

African delegates said the session was convened "hastily" and they did not have time to prepare.

Nairobi-Goma  - At least 13,000 Congolese refugees have fled into Uganda over the past few days as fighting flared up again in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said.

The refugees told UNHCR officials they were fleeing fighting around Rutshuru, one of the towns that has been caught up in battles between troops loyal to rebel general Laurent Nkunda and government troops

The fighting exploded into full-scale conflict in October after beginning to ramp up in August.

Well over 250,000 civilians have been displaced since August as results of the clashes, aid agencies say.

New York  - Warring parties in the Democratic Republic of Congo have all carried out attacks against civilians in North Kivu, where fighting has raged for weeks between government and rebel troops, the UN said Wednesday.

The UN said that some 250,000 Congolese have been displaced by the fighting, some for the second or third time in a matter of weeks. It said that one in four inhabitants in the region has become a refugee inside the the DR Congo.

Geneva - The United Nations' Human Rights Council announced Wednesday it is to hold a special session Friday on the situation in the eastern section of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Humanitarian aid organizations and other groups working in Congo have accused fighters in the Kivu region of having committed severe rights abuses, including sexual violence against women.