Rebels leave key Congo town, boosting peace hopes

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Goran Tomasevic / ReutersA M23 fighter walks with his rifle as he and other rebels withdraw from Goma, Congo, on Saturday.By Pascal Fletcher, ReutersGOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo -- Rebel fighters, singing and  brandishing weapons, pulled out of Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern border  city of Goma on Saturday, raising hopes regional peace efforts could advance  negotiations to end the insurgency.

Follow @NBCNewsWorld The rebel withdrawal from Goma on  Lake Kivu, a strategic hub in the country's war-scarred eastern borderlands, was  agreed in a deal brokered by presidents of the Great Lakes states under Uganda's  leadership a week ago.

Goma's fall on November 20 to the Tutsi-led M23  rebel movement which routed United Nations-backed government forces triggered a  diplomatic scramble to prevent a wider escalation of the eight-month-old  rebellion in the conflict-prone region.

The rebels had said they would  fight to topple Congo's President Joseph Kabila and march on the capital  Kinshasa, 1,000 miles to the west. U.N. experts accuse Rwanda and  Uganda of supporting the revolt, a charge both strongly deny.    




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