The leaders of Congo and Rwanda proclaimed a peace agreement a key step in efforts to end a war that has embroiled six African nations and left 2.5 million people dead.

"No more blood must run," Congolese President Joseph Kabila said Tuesday before signing the agreement with Rwandan President Paul Kagame at a ceremony in South Africa.

The deal, the latest in a string of efforts to end the war, commits Rwanda to pull its 30,000 troops from Congo in exchange for Congo rounding up, disarming and repatriating thousands of Rwandan rebels who have used the country as a base for attacks on Rwanda.

War broke out in Congo in August 1998 when Rwanda and Uganda backed Congolese rebels seeking to oust then-President Laurent Kabila, accusing him of supporting rebels who threatened their security. Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia sent troops to support the government.

An estimated 2.5 million people have died - mainly from war-induced hunger and disease - in the conflict in Congo, a resource-rich central African nation about the size of Western Europe.

South African President Thabo Mbeki and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan brokered the latest agreement.
The U.N. Security Council welcomed the signing of the agreement between Rwanda and Congo.

The council has sent two missions to the Great Lakes region to try to spur an end to the war in Congo, which has engulfed much of central Africa.

A key element of the deal is Congo's commitment to round up, disarm and repatriate the estimated 12,000 Rwandan Hutu militia fighters, who fled into the Congo after taking part in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda that killed more than 500,000 people, mostly from the Tutsi minority.

Kabila said he preferred to try to persuade the Hutu fighters to leave peacefully, but "where force will be needed, force will be used."

Under the agreement, Congo is to begin rounding up the Hutu militia fighters 30 days after the deal is signed. Rwanda's withdrawal will begin 15 days later and is to be completed in 45 days. Both processes are to be monitored by a force whose composition has not yet been spelled out.

The agreement also requires Congo and Rwanda to provide the U.N. observer mission in Congo and South African officials with all information they have on the location and numbers of the Hutu militia.

The U.N. refugee agency greeted the deal as "a milestone" that could pave the way for the eventual return of tens of thousands of refugees, most of whom are in Zambia and Tanzania.

PHOTO CAPTION

Rwandan President Paul Kagame, South African President Thabo Mbeki, Congolese President Joseph Kabila during a peace-signing ceremony in Pretoria, South Africa, Tuesday, July 30, 2002. The deal signed has been hailed as a milestone in efforts to end the four-year war in the Congo. Backround flags left to right are Rwandan, South African and Congolese. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)