Congolese rebels and Kinshasa government officials met for a third day of talks in Nairobi on Wednesday amid hopes of reaching agreement on a framework for substantive talks, a UN spokesman said.
"Delegations are expected to be in a mix of proximity and direct talks today. There is a hope on behalf of the facilitation that a framework agreement will be reached today," said UN spokesman Jens Laerke.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s special envoy to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Olusegun Obasanjo, said late Tuesday that he hoped substantive talks would begin "before Christmas".
"We can say to you that we are making progress on building foundations for substantive talks; that is the stage where we are, we are satisfied," the former Nigerian president, who is mediating the Nairobi talks, told reporters.
"I believe before we break off from this session we will have been able to get to a stage where substantive talks can begin," he added.
Kinshasa’s Cooperation Minister Raymond Tshibanda is leading the government delegation, while the five-man rebel team is headed by Serge Kambasu Ngeve, deputy executive secretary of the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP).
Fighting since August 28 between government troops and the CNDP, led by renegade general Laurent Nkunda, has displaced more than 250,000 people in eastern Nord-Kivu province.
Nkunda’s fighters have inflicted heavy losses on the Congolese army, taking control of much of the province, including the outskirts of the regional capital Goma.
The CNDP has repeatedly broken a self-declared ceasefire in place since late October, by clashing with other armed groups in the region.