President Joseph Kabila of Congo is resisting intense pressure to hand over to the International Criminal Court a rebel leader who helped him broker a ceasefire in the eastern region.

Western countries and civil rights groups want him to surrender Bosco Ntaganda, who overthrew Laurent Nkunda and led the National Congress for the Defence of the People in laying down arms in January.

Mr Ntaganda — indicted by the ICC in August 2008 for crimes against humanity — helped President Kabila tame Nkunda, who had threatened to fight his way to Kinshasa and overthrow the government.

The ceasefire led to the signing of the Goma agreement on March 23, under a mediation programme headed by former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo. The CNDP and 22 other militia groups agreed to start negotiations for a comprehensive political agreement.

The current pressure comes as Mr Obasanjo and co-mediator Benjamin Mkapa are expected to brief heads of states from the Great Lakes region on May 15 on the progress of the Goma agreement.

President Kabila also has to contend with pressure from NGOs that are unwilling to offer humanitarian aid to eastern Congo if Ntaganda is to play a key role in the peace process. They accuse him of continuing to commit atrocities, including chopping off the limbs of civilians.

Ntaganda is also associated with past atrocities like the massacre of 120 civilians in Kiwanja last year. But sources close to Kinshasa say President Kabila is convinced that handing over Ntaganda to the ICC will be a drawback to the peace process.

Mr Kabila is on record saying the return of peace to eastern Congo and to the border with Rwanda is more important at the moment.

Kinshasa also says it is one of the few African countries that have co-operated with the ICC. So far, it has handed over former rebel leaders Thomas Lubanga, Germain Katanga and Matthieu Ngudjolo Chui. Former opposition leader Jean Piere Bemba was also arrested while in exile in Europe.

Under the Goma agreement, Kinshasa will grant amnesty to former rebels and incorporate their former combatants into various security forces. It will also include some of them in national and local governments.

But implementation of the Goma agreement is slow. It is dependent on advice from three committees formed after the ceasefire.

The first committee is leading negotiations between the government and CNDP, the second is between the government and other armed groups in North Kivu, and the third is negotiating between government and armed groups in South Kivu.

Meanwhile, the joint Congo/Rwanda offensive against the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (who Rwanda says are remnants of the 1994 genocide perpetrators) has not been fully successful.

The rebels have now resorted to guerilla tactics. They are attacking villages, killing people and looting property. They have also continued mining gold and coltam. Kinshasa blames the international community for failing to honour its promise of financial support to the Goma agreement.

Also, an additional 3,000 UN peacekeepers voted for by the Security Council are yet to arrive. Many countries, especially in Europe, are unwilling to contribute troops to join the 17,000 already on the ground.