Talks aimed at ending fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Sunday opened in the Ugandan capital Kampala with warring parties, government and M23 rebels committing themselves to peace.

DRC's foreign minister Raymond Tshibanda is heading the government side while M23's Executive Secretary Francois Rucogoza is heading the rebel side in the Ugandan mediated talks.

Tshibanda told the meeting that their interest is to end the fighting in eastern DRC which he said has caused wanton suffering to the Congolese in the region.

He said although they come to the negotiation table with an open mind, they would not compromise on issues that violate the Congolese Constitution.

"We are going to listen, we are going to loyally discuss to find a solution to end the fighting," he said.

M23's Rucogoza told the meeting that all the suffering that the people of eastern DRC were going through was because of the poor governance by the DRC government.

He accused the DRC government of arbitrary arrests and ethnic cleansing.

"The administration is paralyzed and the public service is almost non-existent, the army is balkanized," he said.

These allegations angered the DRC government delegation which threatened not to proceed with the talks unless it was given the same opportunity to highlight the atrocities committed by the M23.

The mediator of the talks Crispus Kiyonga, who is also Uganda's minister of defense, said that the DRC would be given an opportunity to respond to the allegations of the M23.

He told reporters outside the negotiation room that ordinarily at the start of peace talks the tempers among the warring parties is high.

Kiyonga told the meeting that the talks availed an opportunity to stop the suffering of hundreds of thousands of people in eastern DRC.

"The dialogue that is starting today gives hope to the people of the DRC, the people in the region and the international community. There is now a great opportunity to find a sustainable political solution to the conflict between the government and the M23," he said.

Although these are not the first face-to-face talks between the rebels and government, they are a signal of the Great Lakes region' s efforts to end the fighting that has internally displaced over 475,000 people and forced over 75,000 others to flee to neighboring Rwanda and Uganda.

Uganda has since July been heading regional efforts under the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, a regional body bringing together 11 member states, to end the fighting.

IMMINENT DANGER

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni while speaking at a regional meeting in Tanzania on Saturday said that although the situation in eastern DRC primarily affects the Congolese people it also impacts on DRC's neighbors.

The DRC territory has been used by various elements to attack neighboring countries such as Angola, Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda.

Museveni according to a State House statement issued here warned that a small problem could get out of hand "if we do not cooperate."

He told the Southern African Development Cooperation Summit that the Great Lakes region had resolved to deploy a neutral force that will not be part of "military tourism" to help the Congolese.

He was making an indirect hit at the UN peace keeping force in eastern DRC which regional leaders have been critical of not helping to protect the Congolese despite being heavily funded by the international community.

The Kampala talks are likely to take the Burundi model where most of the parties involved in the conflict were involved in negotiations that ended fighting in the East African country.

Both regional and international efforts were critical in ensuring that the agreements were implemented.

Speaking at the SADC meeting bringing together 15 member countries, Museveni who is chairing regional efforts to end the fighting in eastern DRC said "a peace trinity involving the affected country, the region and the international community," is critical in solving the DRC crisis.

CONFLICT ENTREPRENEURS

James Mugume, permanent secretary of Uganda's ministry of foreign affairs told Xinhua in an interview on Dec. 5 that while the region is making effort to help stabilize the DRC, there are elements in the international community interested in the chaos in the mineral rich central African country.

He did not mention names but said these elements will come up with all excuses to derail the peace efforts.

"While we continue our efforts to stabilize the region, I believe there are those who want to destabilize. You must always know that that is what we are dealing with," he said.

"For us our purpose, our president's intention is to stabilize the region. Find a long term solution so that this region can grow. We have no interest, it is not in our national interest to destabilize eastern DRC," he said.

His comments come against a backdrop of a leaked UN report which accused Rwanda and Uganda of supporting the M23, a charge both countries deny.

The region now faces an uphill task of persuading the UN Security Council to allow the deployment and funding of the neutral international force.

Unlike the UN peacekeeping force, which is mainly mandated to keep peace, the Great Lakes Region leaders want the neutral force to have the mandate of peace enforcement whereby it will attack militia groups.

Congolese civil societies that have come to observe the talks are calling on the warring parties to lay their guns down.

Alexis Gisaro, one of the Congolese civil society members told Xinhua in an interview on Dec. 7 that the most important thing for the Congolese is peace.

"People want peace, they want to be free to go to school, their gardens. What we want for our people is peace and development," he said.

"We must come to a point where all these matters must be talked about peacefully without going to war," he said.

If the talks succeed and the agreements implemented as agreed, it will be the first time DRC will have peace since achieving independence over five decades ago.