Squabbling threatens to sink east Congo ceasefire

KINSHASA (Reuters) - Last-minute disagreements over a peace deal between the Congolese government, Tutsi rebels and Mai Mai militia threatened to scupper efforts to end fighting in the country's east on Tuesday.

Government officials and diplomats said on Monday the warring factions had forged an agreement to declare an immediate ceasefire and a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone, after more than two weeks of talks.

The deal was due to be signed on Tuesday at the closing ceremony of a peace conference in Goma, capital of violence-ravaged North Kivu province.

It had been touted by foreign observers as a major step towards finally ending fighting in the east, where violence has continued despite the official end of a broader 1998-2003 war.

"We have a serious problem with the text," Jean-Desire Muiti, a member of the delegation representing Tutsi insurgents loyal to renegade General Laurent Nkunda, told Reuters.

Muiti said the rebels had agreed to lay down their arms and integrate into the national army or demobilize in exchange for the offer of a limited amnesty, but that the text of the deal had been changed overnight.

"We arrived this morning, and we found a new text," he said.

Under the new document, he said the government, which had been a signatory to the ceasefire agreement, would instead sign the document as a witness.

Government officials present at the talks could not be immediately reached for comment.