A warlord in the eastern province of the Democratic Republic of Congo has agreed to lay down his arms ahead of elections this weekend.

Mathieu Ngudjolo, who leads a coalition of militia fighters in the northeast Ituri district, signed a deal with military authorities today. He will be offered an amnesty in return for his men joining the national army.

The warlord is one of about six other militias operating in the province and is the latest in a string of militia to sign this type of agreement with authorities.

Peter Karim, another Ituri warlord who kidnapped seven UN peacekeepers in May, also agreed to a similar deal but has so far has failed to come out of the bush where militia are fighting the army and peacekeeping troops.

United Nations officials hope that the agreement between the MRC (Congolese Revolutionary Movement) militia and the military authorities will not be the last. UN officials are currently facilitating negotiations with the FRPI militia (Patriotic Force of Resistance for Ituri), and they hope they will be next in line for a possible militia surrender in the coming days.

The UN, which has 17,500 peacekeepers in the war-scarred African country, has welcomed the agreement which comes ahead of Sunday's election.

Kemal Saiki, a UN spokesman, "It’s a positive development. Anything that contributes to peace in Congo is good news."

But other groups have been more sceptical saying they are not sure whether the agreement will bring lasting peace and stability to the troubled eastern province.

"There needs to be a political solution to this problem. Legitimising warlords in this area is not going to bring long term peace," Anneke van Woudenburg, Human Rights Watch’s Congo specialist, told Reuters.

"This is again sending the message that if you want to be a general in the army, you can pick up a gun and kill people," she said.

The election on Sunday is hailed as starting a new era of peace and prosperity for the Congo following a devastating five-year war that has killed about 4 million people. Although the war officially ended in 2003, rebels and militias have continued to fight in the east.

Thousands of rebel fighters have joined the military under a post war administration led by President Joseph Kabila, but other armed groups are still active.

Jonathan Clayton, Africa Correspondent for The Times, in the Congo, said: "They [the authorities] are trying to disarm these men [warlords] and bring them into the national army. It works in the short term. It is probably better to have these fighters in the army than creating their own havoc.

"But, the army is as big a threat to the people as the militia groups. It is mainly an unpaid army so it is one that will go into villages and steal food and money. There are a lot of questions about the army, but it is the lesser of two evils."

A UN report covering peacekeeping missions from January to June 2006 documented 905 human rights abuses and said that more than 80 per cent were committed by members of the security services.

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