BOTH the Zairean government and the rebels pledged yesterday to "respect the principle of a ceasefire and the principle of negotiations" in a final communique from a special summit of the Organisation of African Unity.
The Togolese Foreign Minister, Mr Koffi Panou, said a firm date for direct talks between the two warring sides would be fixed later and announced simultaneously in Togo, Kinshasa, and at UN headquarters.
African heads of state signed a final declaration on Wednesday endorsing a peace plan similar to the five point initiative drawn up by a UN envoy in February.
Mr Laurent Desire Kabila's rebel movement has captured the eastern quarter of Zaire since it began its offensive in October. It has promised to march on to Kinshasa and topple the regime of President Mobutu Sese Seko.
Earlier yesterday, however, delegates of Mr Kabila's Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo Zaire said peace talks would be held "within a very few days".
The summit in Lome was the first time government and rebel delegates had negotiated face to face.
In only five months, the rebels have seized a quarter of the vast country, which Mr Mobutu has ruled like an absolute monarch since 1965.
In Paris, France changed its tone yesterday towards the Zairean rebels, referring to them for the first time by their chosen name. The French Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mr Jacques Rummelhardt, made the subtle shift following the meeting in Lome.
Officials said a high level French delegation - including President Jacques Chirac's Africa adviser, Mr Michel Dupuch - was in Lome to promote the dialogue, along with US officials.