Congo rebel leader brushes off ceasefire call, vowing to fight on

By Giulia Paravicini

GOMA (Reuters) -The leader of a rebel alliance that has seized swathes of east Congo told Reuters on Thursday that insurgents were not bound by a ceasefire call from Congo and Rwanda's presidents and cast any minerals-for-security deal with the U.S. as "treachery".

Democratic Republic of Congo's President Felix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame met in Doha on Tuesday for the first time since the latest M23 advance that has seen the rebels seize more territory than ever before.

The meeting came one day after M23 pulled out of direct talks with Tshisekedi's government that were expected to take place in Angola, and as its fighters pushed deeper into Congolese territory.

The conflict in Congo's east is rooted in the fallout from Rwanda's 1994 genocide and competition for mineral riches. It has spiralled since January, raising fears of a regional conflict akin to those between 1996-2003 that left millions dead.

"We have nothing more to lose. We will fight until our cause is heard," Corneille Nangaa, leader of the Congo River Alliance (AFC) that includes M23, told Reuters on Thursday when asked about the group's plans.

"We are defending ourselves. So if the threat continues to come from (DR Congo capital) Kinshasa, unfortunately, we will be forced to go and eliminate the threat because the Congo deserves better," he said during an interview in Goma, eastern Congo's main city.

"In the meantime, what happened in Doha, as long as we don't know the details, and as long as it doesn't solve our problems, we'll say it doesn't concern us."

Rwanda has denied supporting M23 and said its military has been acting in self defence against Congo's army and militias hostile to Kigali.

MINERALS DEAL

Nangaa also dismissed the possibility of a proposed minerals-for-security deal with the United States.

The State Department said this month it was open to exploring critical minerals partnerships with Congo after a Congolese senator contacted U.S. officials to pitch a deal, though Kinshasa has not publicly detailed its proposal.

Tshisekedi told Fox News on Wednesday that Kinshasa wanted a partnership that would bring peace and stability to both countries.

Nangaa, who according to a letter seen by Reuters had been endorsed by M23 to choose rebel negotiators in the aborted talks in Angola, said the U.S. would be "naive" to pursue such a deal. "The Congolese people, who are sovereign, will block the way to this treachery, this deception," he said.

The AFC has been trying to demonstrate that it can establish order in the territory it holds.

AFC spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka told Reuters on Wednesday that the group was working to re-open the airport in Goma, a main route for delivering humanitarian aid.

The airport had been heavily damaged by Congolese forces before they withdrew from the city in late January, he said.

M23 fighters pushed further west on Thursday, capturing the strategic town of Walikale.

That puts them in control of a road linking four provinces in eastern Congo and within 400 km (250 miles) of Kisangani, Congo's fourth-biggest city.

(Reporting by Giulia Paravicini; Writing by Robbie Corey-Boulet; Editing by Aaron Ross and Aidan Lewis)