NAIROBI - At least 12 Heads of State are expected today in the Kenyan Capital, Nairobi, for yet another round of talks to resolve the crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

The talks come in the wake of renewed fighting in the Northern Kivu province between government forces (FRDC) and rebels of the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) led by General Laurent Nkunda.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been displaced by the fighting.

President Paul Kagame Wednesday confirmed that he would attend the talks hosted by Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki, who also holds the chair of the International Conference on the Great Lakes region (ICGLR).

The Presidents of DRC, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, Zambia, South Africa, Congo-Brazzaville, Central African Republic (CAR), Angola and Sudan are also scheduled to take part in the talks.

The UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon as well as the Jean Ping, Secretary General will also be in attendance. Both Ki Moon and Ping arrived in Nairobi Friday.

This is the second time that the international community meets on the issue of insecurity in eastern DRC.

The last meeting, held in November 2007, resulted in the Nairobi Communiqué in which the DRC, in conjunction with the UN, were supposed to disarm a Rwandan militia, Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), who it is said is the main cause of insecurity in eastern DRC.

The agreement, as well as several previous others were never implemented by the DRC government.

The FDLR are remnants of the former Rwandan army ex-Far and Interahamwe militia who spearheaded the 1994 Genocide of Tutsis which claimed the lives of over one million people.

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