Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila has told a U.N. Security Council delegation that he is willing to resume peace talks with Rwandan-backed rebels. 

French U.N. Ambassador and delegation leader Jean-David Levitte reported Tuesday that President Kabila says the door of dialogue is wide open. 

British U.N. envoy Jeremy Greenstock said Mr. Kabila is willing to meet with Rwandan rebels who rejected an agreement reached at peace talks two weeks ago in South Africa. 

The U.N. delegation arrived in the DRC after meetings with President Thabo Mbeki in South Africa and President Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe. 

The team of 15 diplomats is holding a series of meetings with leaders of African countries embroiled in the Congo war that began in 1998 and has drawn in neighboring countries. 

At the South Africa talks, Mr. Kabila and one main rebel group agreed to form a shared government. But the partial settlement has been rejected as a sham by a Rwandan-backed rebel group, the Congolese Rally for Democracy, which holds about a third of the country. 

Following the talks with Mr. Kabila, the U.N. team is to attend a ceremony at the Kamina military base in the southeast of the country, where arms captured from Rwandan-backed rebels will be destroyed. 

The Security Council delegation will also visit Angola, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. 

Some information for this report provided by AFP and Reuters.

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