Presidents from Africa's Great Lakes region on Thursday demanded that the Democratic Republic of Congo restart talks with rebels within three days to end rounds of brutal conflict.
"Dialogue should resume within three days... and conclude within a maximum period of 14 days," the leaders said in a statement, after talks in the Ugandan capital aimed to broker a deal to end the fighting in resource-rich eastern DR Congo.
Congolese troops, backed by a special United Nations force, launched a fresh assault against the M23 movement of army mutineers in the turbulent North Kivu province late last month.
Talks between the M23 and the government broke down in May.
Once talks restart in Kampala "belligerent forces on the ground are urged to exercise maximum restraint," added the statement, which was signed by DR Congo's leader Joseph Kabila.
There was no immediate response from the M23, and past demands for a swift deal to broker peace have been flouted.
The meeting of the 11-member International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) -- the seventh such summit held to try to find a lasting solution -- comes amid a recent upsurge in violence.
Conflict in the fertile and valuable mining region has in the past dragged regional powers into the fighting, with both Rwanda and Uganda accused of backing the M23, claims they flatly deny.
Meetings on Thursday before the deal also took place between DR Congo's Kabila and his rival Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame -- who rejects accusations of backing rebel forces in Congo -- Ugandan foreign ministry spokesman Elly Kamahungye told AFP.
Rwanda's Kagame also met separately with Tanzanian leader Jakaya Kikwete, following months of tense relations between their two nations.
Tanzanian troops form a key part of a newly deployed UN military intervention force specially mandated to take the offensive against rebel units.
UN special envoy Mary Robinson and African Union Commission chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma were also at the talks, at a luxury lakeside resort outside Kampala.
Robinson, the former president of Ireland, on Monday toured conflict zones in eastern Congo, where she demanded that M23 fighters "must cease violence, must disarm as the UN Security Council demanded".
She is expected to travel on to the Rwandan capital Kigali on Friday.
The M23 was launched by Tutsi soldiers who mutinied from Congo's army in April 2012 and turned their guns on their former comrades.
Last week the rebels moved back from positions around Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, which they seized for 12 days last November before pulling out under international pressure.
Talks between the M23 and Kinshasa began last year but made little headway.
Rebel delegations are already in Kampala, but it was not clear if they also took part in any sideline talks at the summit.
African leaders order restart of DRC rebel talks
Presidents from Africa's Great Lakes region on Thursday demanded that the Democratic Republic of Congo restart talks with rebels within three days to end rounds of brutal conflict.
"Dialogue should resume within three days... and conclude within a maximum period of 14 days," the leaders said in a statement, after talks in the Ugandan capital aimed to broker a deal to end the fighting in resource-rich eastern DR Congo.
Congolese troops, backed by a special United Nations force, launched a fresh assault against the M23 movement of army mutineers in the turbulent North Kivu province late last month.
Talks between the M23 and the government broke down in May.
Once talks restart in Kampala "belligerent forces on the ground are urged to exercise maximum restraint," added the statement, which was signed by DR Congo's leader Joseph Kabila.
There was no immediate response from the M23, and past demands for a swift deal to broker peace have been flouted.
The meeting of the 11-member International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) -- the seventh such summit held to try to find a lasting solution -- comes amid a recent upsurge in violence.
Conflict in the fertile and valuable mining region has in the past dragged regional powers into the fighting, with both Rwanda and Uganda accused of backing the M23, claims they flatly deny.
Meetings on Thursday before the deal also took place between DR Congo's Kabila and his rival Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame -- who rejects accusations of backing rebel forces in Congo -- Ugandan foreign ministry spokesman Elly Kamahungye told AFP.
Rwanda's Kagame also met separately with Tanzanian leader Jakaya Kikwete, following months of tense relations between their two nations.
Tanzanian troops form a key part of a newly deployed UN military intervention force specially mandated to take the offensive against rebel units.
UN special envoy Mary Robinson and African Union Commission chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma were also at the talks, at a luxury lakeside resort outside Kampala.
Robinson, the former president of Ireland, on Monday toured conflict zones in eastern Congo, where she demanded that M23 fighters "must cease violence, must disarm as the UN Security Council demanded".
She is expected to travel on to the Rwandan capital Kigali on Friday.
The M23 was launched by Tutsi soldiers who mutinied from Congo's army in April 2012 and turned their guns on their former comrades.
Last week the rebels moved back from positions around Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, which they seized for 12 days last November before pulling out under international pressure.
Talks between the M23 and Kinshasa began last year but made little headway.
Rebel delegations are already in Kampala, but it was not clear if they also took part in any sideline talks at the summit.
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