Communication Minister Lambert Mende told AFP the government counted on collecting "20,000 to 30,000 guns at first" but did not say how long the operation, financed by President Joseph Kabila, was intended to last.

A government statement said that the campaign was aimed at putting "a final touch on the peace process" in the eastern region bordering Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi, which was "at the heart of a war that sowed death and desolation."

"People have got to be convinced that there's no reason to carry a gun. Carrying a gun is against the law," said Mendi, who is also the government's spokesman.

The campaign was to be kicked off in a town near Goma, the biggest city in the eastern Nord-Kivu province before being extended to other provinces, the government statement said.

Several armed groups, Congolese militias and Rwandan Hutu rebels have operated in the region for more than a decade.

With UN backing, the army recently launched a new operation against Rwandan Hutu rebels in the east.

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