DR CONGO 'TO DISARM HUTU REBELS'

An estimated 6,000 Hutu militias are in east DR CongoThe president of the Democratic Republic of Congo says he has drawn up a plan to disarm Hutu militias in a bid to end the crisis in the east.
Joseph Kabila also said he has given the go ahead to the army to prepare for the forced disarmament of renegade General Laurent Nkunda's fighters.
Gen Nkunda says he is fighting to protect the Tutsi minority from Hutu rebels who he says side with the army.
Many Hutu militiamen fled to DR Congo after the Rwandan genocide in 1994.
A deadline for Gen Nkunda to disarm and integrate his forces with the national army was extended from Monday - a new date was not specified.
People here are very shocked about the fighting - Congolese NGO worker Leopold.

Voices in the violence

The UN estimates 6,000 Rwandan Hutu rebels - known as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) - are operating in the east.
Gen Nkunda has previously accused the Congolese army of working with other local militia and the FDLR to attack him.
More than 370,000 people have been displaced by the fighting since the start of the year in a growing humanitarian crisis.
'Waiting'
President Kabila made his announcement about the Hutu disarmament in the eastern city of Goma where many people caught up in the violence have fled.

KEY FORCES IN THE KIVUS

FLNK - new group made up mainly of Congolese Mai Mai with some Rwandan Hutus formerly in the FDLR
FDLR - Hutu militia made up of former Rwandan soldiers and others who fled into Congo after the 1994 genocide
Congolese army
Gen Laurent Nkunda, with an estimated 5,000 soldiers
Monuc - UN Mission in the DR Congo

Profile: Renegade general

"The armed forces... have received the green light to begin or rather to prepare the forced disarmament of Mr Nkunda and those who remain with him," he told a news conference.
"I won't give you the date for these operations to start but the army has already been given its mission to disarm these people," he said.
Defence Minister Chikez Diemu told the BBC that the plan to disarm the FDLR had been given to Rwanda and the UN to consider.
He said the government was awaiting their response.
This week's deadline extension followed intense talks with foreign diplomats and the head of the UN peacekeeping mission, William Swing.
A five-year war in DR Congo ended in 2003, but the 17,600 UN peacekeepers in the country (4,300 of them in North Kivu alone) have struggled to keep a lid on instability since then.

BBC NEWS REPORT.