The agreement was reached at talks between negotiators from President Joseph Kabila's government and the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) which have been taking place since last Wednesday in the main eastern city of Goma after a near two-month hiatus, sources said.

The CNDP had been led by renegade Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda until his capture in neighbouring Rwanda last month.

There were no immediate details on the contents of the preliminary agreement but the two sides are scheduled to hold a further round of talks in the Kenyan capital Nairobi next week.

The UN-sponsored talks are to be mediated by former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo and Tanzania's former leader Benjamin Mkapa.

The meeting should see both sides fix on a date for the signing of the full accord, the sources said.

Kambasu Ngeve, the CNDP's executive secretary, told AFP that two bilateral commissions -- one devoted to political and judicial issues and another on economic issues -- had drawn up joint texts which form the basis for the preliminary agreement.

Jean Bosco Bahala, a spokesman for the Kinshasa government, said that the final agreement was likely to include other armed groups operating in the eastern Nord Kivu province.

"The pre-agreement will also include provision for the integration of combattants in the army... the return of refugees and internally displaced people... (and) the creation of special security zones," added Bahala.

The eastern DR Congo has been wracked by conflict in recent months with Nkunda's forces taking control of large swathes in an offensive towards the end of last year.

However, Nkunda suffered a major blow in January when a number of his senior commanders defected and he was subsequently tracked down and arrested in Rwanda on January 22.

Since then, CNDP forces have started rallying to the Congolese national army, the FARDC, which is engaged in joint operations with Rwandan troops and with UN logistic support to quell strife in the region.

Relations between the governments of Kigali and Kinshasa had been frosty but have improved markedly since their troops began working together to drive out members of the another rebel group in eastern DR Congo, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), and repatriate civilians displaced by fighting.

Officials announced on Saturday that Rwanda would begin withdrawing its troops from the DR Congo in the coming week.

UN peacekeepers have long struggled to bring calm to Nord-Kivu where Congolese troops have been accused of indulging in looting sprees, while rebel groups are also alleged to have committed atrocities.

Speaking on a visit to the DR Congo earlier this month, the UN's humanitarian chief John Holmes said an estimated 800,000 people uprooted by the months of fighting in Nord-Kivu could not return home until they were certain that they and their families would be safe.

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