Democratic Republic of Congo has reached a new milestone on the road to peace with agreements on an interim constitution and security, but the start of the transition process remained jeopardized by delay and a risk of more fighting.

In adopting two texts late Thursday, representatives of the DRC government, major rebel groups and the political opposition concluded 11 days of intensive discussions in Pretoria, fine-tuning a power-sharing deal signed in the South African capital last year.

Talks focussed on constitutional, military and security matters in a two-year transition process that will culminate in the first democratic elections in the former Zaire since independence in 1960.

Elated with the outcome of the marathon discussions, Moustapha Niasse, mediator in the talks and special envoy of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan told delegates on Thursday: "It's time to take charge of your people and your history." "God willing, this will lead to elections in two year's time."

But the process remains fragile.

While delegates reached an agreement in Pretoria, reports of renewed fighting in the northeastern DRC town of Bunia prompted a major rebel group, the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) to stage a walkout in protest.

Clashes had broken out in the town Thursday between Ugandan soldiers and the Union of Congolese Patriots (UCP), a small rebel group backed by the RCD.

Ugandan forces took control, forcing UPC rebels to flee and prompting the United Nations to express major concerns about aid workers and civilians trapped by fighting.

Only after Niasse's intervention at Thursday's plenary, did the RCD return to the negotiating table.

Said Moise Ngarugabo, an RCD delegate: "We are prepared to sign, but we have been stabbed in the back." "The fighting (in Bunia) is certainly not conducive to the process," said Henri Boshoff, an analyst at the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies.

"Everybody is busy pre-positioning themselves, to be in a better position and to have better support (when the transition starts)." All groups demanded that a neutral force -- authorised by the United Nations -- help guarantee the safety of members of a transitional government and the population during the two year phase.

Finer military details on the integration of the Congolese army still needed to be dicussed, with one source close to the mediation saying: "The trick is to get rid of the politicians and let the generals get down to talking soldiers' talk." No venue or time had been set for these discussions.

Boshoff said the deployment of the neutral force remained a point of concern.

"The neutral force needs to be deployed as speedily as possible and that is the sticky issue." "The rebels will not go to Kinshasa unless the force was in place and that coud take more than 60 to 90 days. We talking about at least another three months." Said Boshoff: "Who is going to provide this force and where is the funding going to come from?" He said delegates were finalising the terms of reference for the two documents on Friday, before presenting it presenting it to the facilitator, Botswanan former president Ketumile Masire next week.

Niasse was expected to travel to Gaborone on Monday to hand the documents to Masire who has promised to call a final meeting to end the Inter-Congolese dialogue within 15 days.

After that, the DRC could be as close as a month away from entering the two-year transition period, where a follow-up committee led by DRC President Joseph Kabila will share power with the rebels, the unarmed opposition and civil society.

Niasse has appealed to parties to stick to Thursday's agreements.

"I beg you to think of the women and children killed or wounded in the war," he said. The four-and-a-half year conflict has claimed some 2.5 million lives directly in fighting and massacres or indirectly through disease and starvation - Sapa-AFP.