Nairobi/Kinshasa - The United Nations has blasted rebel Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda for saying he plans to expand his rebellion from the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to encompass the entire sprawling Central African nation.

"MONUC (the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo) and the international community will not tolerate this new attempt to destabilize the political process," MONUC said in a statement late on Friday evening.

Nkunda's CNDP and other groups in January signed up to peace accords designed to end sporadic clashes that occurred in 2007, four years after the war in the DRC officially ended.

However, the CNDP and government soldiers have been involved in repeated firefights in the eastern North and South Kivu provinces since late August, with more than 250 ceasefire violations recorded.

Aid agencies say an estimated 100,000 civilians have fled the renewed fighting.

Nkunda's troops have confined their operations to the east of the nation, which borders Rwanda, purportedly to protect Tutsis from armed Hutu groups.

However, he now appears to be suggesting a widening of the conflict.

"We are going to liberate the people of Congo," Nkunda told the BBC on Thursday. "I am calling on the people of Congo to stand up for their liberty, for their freedom."

Aid agencies and observers are concerned that the clashes could reignite a wider conflict and plunge the DRC back into chaos.

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

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