By Lubunga Bya'Ombe

GOMA, Congo, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Tutsi rebels in eastern Congo accused President Joseph Kabila on Wednesday of failing to work for peace after he said their leader would not be invited to talks aimed at ending years of fighting.

Prospects for peace in the conflict-torn east of Democratic Republic of Congo have dimmed after Kabila refused to invite rebel Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda to a peace conference in North Kivu province, the scene of heavy fighting last year.

Kabila flew on Tuesday to the provincial capital Goma, saying he wanted to support talks which have brought together the government, local leaders and warring rebels and militias.

But he rebuffed an offer by Nkunda to attend, saying the renegade general would not be invited "because he has problems with the law".

Nkunda's representatives at the Goma conference, who had called for direct talks with the government, criticised Kabila's statement, saying it "did not move in the direction of peace".

"We hope he changes his position and backs down from these declarations, which just throw fuel on the fire," said Kambasu Ngeve, the head of Nkunda's delegation in Goma.

The government says Nkunda, who has led an eastern revolt by his Tutsi fighters since 2004, is wanted for war crimes allegedly committed during his brief occupation of the city of Bukavu in that same year. It has handed a warrant for his arrest to the international police organisation Interpol.

Individuals with known indictments or convictions for certain crimes were excluded from participation in the Goma peace conference, which opened more than a week ago but has been plagued by delays and threatened boycotts.

Ngeve told Reuters the rebel delegation had no plans to walk out, but said the president's comments damaged peace efforts.

"We proved our good will. But if there's no will on the other side, you can imagine what will happen next," he said.

Congo's broader 1998-2003 war officially ended with a national peace settlement, but government soldiers, Nkunda's Tutsi insurgents, local Mai Mai militia, and Rwandan Hutu rebels have continued to fight each other in North Kivu.

More than a half million Congolese have been forced to flee fighting over the past year, the United Nations' humanitarian coordination agency OCHA said this week. Over 400,000 were displaced in tiny North Kivu alone.

"2007 has been the worst year since the end of the war in North Kivu," Patrick Lavand'homme, the head of OCHA's North Kivu office, said on Wednesday.

Nkunda led around 4,000 fighters into the bush in 2004, saying his insurgency was aimed at protecting eastern Congo's Tutsi minority against attacks from Rwandan Hutu rebels.

Kabila, who has vowed to pacify the turbulent east after winning elections last year, called the Goma peace conference after a government military offensive against Nkunda's fighters crumbled last month, further worsening the humanitarian crisis. (Additional reporting and writing by Joe Bavier in Kinshasa; Editing by Pascal Fletcher and Mary Gabriel)

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