Congo rebels withdraw from cease-fire monitoring committee

The main rebel leader in eastern Congo said Friday he had withdrawn from a committee set up to monitor a fragile cease-fire deal signed last month, sparking fears that a new wave of violence could sweep the region. In a statement, rebel warlord Laurent Nkunda accused the UN peacekeeping force helping monitor the accord of bias after U.N. investigators accused rebels of massacring 30 civilians in the eastern village of Kalonge in North Kivu around the same time as peace talks were being held in January. Rebels denied their fighters carried out the massacre.