Leaders of a rebel group that began battling the Congolese government more than four years ago arrived in the capital for the first time on Sunday as part of a fledgling peace deal, reports from Kinshasa said.

An official delegation from the Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD) rebels flew into Kinshasa airport from their stronghold of Goma on the country's eastern border, the British Broadcasting Corporation reported.

The head of the delegation, RCD Secretary-General Azarias Ruberwa said on arrival that the rebels came to the government-held capital to declare the end of the war.

Ruberwa was accompanied by the rebels' senior military official, Commandant Jean-Pierre Ondekane, 30 bodyguards, and the head of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo.

The war in the Democratic Republic of Congo began in August 1998 when Rwanda and Uganda invaded the east of the country and propped up the RCD, ostensibly to stop attacks from Congo by Rwandan militants.

The warring nations signed a peace deal last July and began withdrawing their troops.

In December, the Congolese government, its political opposition and armed rebel groups agreed to a power-sharing deal creating a transitional government for the next two years.

The agreement says President Joseph Kabila will remain head of the transitional government, with four vice-presidents and cabinet members drawn from all competing factions.

Ruberwa is considered by observers to be the most likely choice of the RCD to fill its vice-presidential slot.

The RCD convoy was scheduled to travel on Sunday the 25 kilometres from Kinshahsa airport to the city centre under the protection of Tunisian soldiers from the U.N. peacekeeping mission - Sapa-DPA