While the negotiations were confirmed by a source within M23, Kinshasa said no-one had been mandated by the government to hold any discussions with "terrorist" groups.

The M23, which had lain dormant for about a decade, launched an offensive in North Kivu province in eastern DRC at the end of 2021 and since then has seized large swathes of territory.

The conflict in the mineral-rich region has killed scores of people and displaced several million more.

But the situation has been relatively calm since a 15-day extension of a humanitarian truce between M23 rebels and government forces was announced last week.

"A high-level delegation from the DRC government and M23/AFC are meeting in Kampala to bring peace in DRC," an official in the office of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni told AFP, without giving a timeframe.

The creation of the AFC or Alliance Fleuve Congo grouping several rebel outfits was announced in December by Corneille Nangaa, the former head of the DRC's election commission, who is living in exile in Kenya.

"Given the complexities involved, this is still a secret meeting but the details will be made public later," the Ugandan official said on condition of anonymity.

"Our wish is to have a permanent ceasefire and peace returning to DRC."

A source within the M23 confirmed the talks but said they had not yet started.

"All I know, they were called to Kampala, nothing else," the source told AFP in Goma, also speaking on condition of anonymity.

But DRC Communications Minister and government spokesman Patrick Muyaya said on X: "No-one has been mandated by the government for any such discussion with the terrorists of the RDF (Rwanda Defence Force) or M23 in Kampala."

Last week, Kinshasa summoned Uganda's charge d'affaires following a recent expert report commissioned by the UN Security Council that said Kampala was giving "active support" to the M23.

Uganda's deputy defence spokesman Deo Akiiki has described the allegations as "laughable, baseless and illogical".

The experts' report also said 3,000 to 4,000 RDF soldiers had been fighting alongside the M23 rebels and that Kigali had "de facto control" of the group's operations.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame has not explicitly denied the presence of Rwandan forces in DRC, but has made no bones about his willingness to take a "defensive" position to protect Kigali's interests.

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