Talk or I restart war, Congo rebel tells government

KIROLIRWE, Congo, Tuesday (Reuters) - Congolese rebel leader Laurent Nkunda threatened today to take his eastern guerrilla war westwards to the capital Kinshasa unless the government agreed to talks on the country's future.

Defiant in the face of international moves to end the conflict in east Democratic Republic of Congo, Nkunda rejected complaints by human rights groups against him, saying he "didn't give a damn" about the International Criminal Court (ICC).

"I've done no wrong to my people ... nobody can reproach me for anything," the slim, bespectacled rebel chief said in an interview at his hilltop headquarters in North Kivu province.

Nkunda, who belongs to and defends Congo's Tutsi minority but also demands a better government for the whole country, last week halted a major advance towards North Kivu's provincial capital Goma that displaced tens of thousands of civilians.

The United Nations and foreign aid groups are now scrambling to address a humanitarian emergency described as "catastrophic" by relief workers in a country where more than five million people have died in a decade from conflict, hunger and disease.

Wearing a green beret and beige camouflage uniform and carrying a cane topped with a silver eagle's head, Nkunda said that if his offer of talks was not accepted by President Joseph Kabila, he would end a ceasefire in North Kivu.

"If they refuse to negotiate, it will mean they will be ready to only fight and we will fight them because we have to fight for our freedom," Nkunda said, surrounded by verdant hills that have earned North Kivu the name "Africa's Switzerland".

The atmosphere there was peaceful, in sharp contrast to the anguish and suffering of refugees packed into camps around Goma, who are clamouring for food and protection from violence.

The renegade former army general, who commands a 4,000-strong guerrilla army, said his next offensive would not stop at Goma, where U.N. peacekeepers have reinforced their positions, but would aim for Kinshasa, the national capital well over 1,500 km (950 miles) to the west.

"Goma is just a place to pass through ... When they force us to come down to Goma we won't stop there," he said.

Congo's government has refused to negotiate with Nkunda since his most recent offensive and has accused neighbouring Rwanda of backing him, a charge denied by Kigali.

"I'm not from Rwanda and I claim nothing for Rwanda," said Nkunda, who led his rebel cabinet in a prayer before a meeting.

UN peacekeepers have strengthened their positions around Goma but say their 17,000-strong force in Congo, the world's largest peace mission, is badly stretched across a country the size of Western Europe, where violent armed groups abound.

International efforts are underway try to arrange a peace summit between Congo and Rwanda and to solve the humanitarian emergency in the east of the former Belgian colony, which has rich reserves of copper, cobalt and gold.

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