French troops trying to end factional violence in Congo's Bunia town seized an abandoned nearby village to tighten security today and announced a local militia had agreed to quit Bunia later in the day.
Shortly after dawn at least 40 soldiers backed by five armoured vehicles began setting up positions at a Dele village, a ramshackle settlement of crude concrete and mud buildings.
"It is a strong signal for all the militias that the force holds the strategic points around Bunia," said Major Xavier Pons, a spokesman for a French-led international peace force.
Hours later a deadline given by the force for gunmen to leave Bunia expired and French commanders announced that Mr Thomas Lubanga, leader of the main militia in Bunia, had agreed to send his fighters out of town under escort by UN troops.
Colonel Gerard Dubois, the main spokesman for the force, said Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) leader Lubanga would send away his remaining troops with the exception of 30 armed guards he had been allowed to keep inside his headquarters in the town. Mr Lubanga was not immediately available for comment.
"He still has troops inside the town, these troops will leave under the escort of MONUC," Colonel Dubois said. "Mr Lubanga will be allowed to keep 30 armed militiamen to guard his headquarters. These are the terms of the general."
Dele village, which lies about seven km (four miles) south of Bunia and controls a key road into the town, has periodically been a bastion for a militia linked to the Lendu tribe that has battled rival gunmen of the Hema community for months.
The French-led force was sent under a UN mandate to secure Bunia after hundreds of civilians were killed by warring Lendu and Hema militia in May, either in fighting or massacres that human rights groups say have been committed by both sides.