DR Congo, M23 rebels sign peace documents

Kinshasa and the M23 rebels signed documents officially burying the hatchet Thursday in Nairobi, a month after the end of the fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. "The DR Congo government and M23 have respectively signed declarations" including the "decision by M23 to end rebellion and transform itself into a legitimate political party," read a document signed by key broker, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. The Kenyan presidency trumpeted a "peace deal" but Kinshasa stressed there had only been a signing of unilateral declarations by both sides. Congolese government spokesman Lambert Mende told Agence France Presse that his side had signed a document pledging to facilitate the demobilization and reintegration of the rebels. Mende also said Kinshasa had vowed to submit a bill to parliament on granting some rebel fighters amnesty but insisted: "There is no accord." The M23, the latest incarnation of an ethnic Tutsi rebellion in eastern DRC, laid down its arms in early November after an offensive by the army and a special U.N. brigade. Kinshasa had responded to international requests for a subsequent resumption of peace talks in Kampala by arguing it saw no reason to negotiate with a group it had eradicated.