(Adds Kabila quotes, defence minister on Rwandan rebels)

By Joe Bavier

GOMA, Congo, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Congo's army has orders to forcibly disarm soldiers loyal to renegade General Laurent Nkunda, President Joseph Kabila said on Wednesday, but he declined to say when the offensive would begin.

"The armed forces ... have received the green light to begin or rather to prepare the forced disarmament of Mr. Nkunda and those who remain with him," Kabila told a news conference in Goma, capital of the eastern province of North Kivu.

"I won't give you the date for these operations to start but the army has already been given its mission to disarm these people," he said.

Kabila said the operation would not necessarily begin immediately but made clear he hoped to definitively pacify the violence-torn province on Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern border with Uganda and Rwanda by the end of the year.

Nkunda's forces have battled government troops in North Kivu since August, forcing thousands of civilians from their homes.

The United Nations made a last appeal on Monday for the renegade soldiers to rejoin the national army after Nkunda ignored a government deadline to disband his forces in the east.

Kabila has indicated for some time that he wants to use military force against Nkunda but last-minute international pressure during talks in Goma this week appeared to have persuaded him to give the renegade general more time.

One western diplomat said on Monday that Kabila appeared ready to give Nkunda another 10 days to comply with government demands that he send his Tutsi fighters to army integration centres or see them forcibly disarmed.

"Have we ruled out now the possibility of a negotiated solution? I don't know what a negotiated solution is," Kabila said. "We want these gentlemen to go through the integration process. Nothing less and nothing more. It's as simple as that."

RWANDAN REBELS

Nkunda says he is defending Congo's Tutsi ethnic community against attacks by Rwandan Hutu FDLR rebels, whom he says are supported by Kabila's government and army. Members of the FDLR are accused of involvement in Rwanda's 1994 genocide, in which 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered.

Kabila, who vowed to pacify all of his vast central African country after winning elections in the war-scarred former Belgian colony last year, denies supporting the FDLR and says his government wants them to disarm.

Defence Minister Chikez Diemu told Reuters a plan for dealing with the FDLR had been presented to Rwanda several weeks ago and that Congo was awaiting a response.

The plan foresaw either repatriating those who disarmed voluntarily to Rwanda if they wished, or potentially granting refugee status to those who wanted to remain in Congo. Those who refused to disarm would face military action.

"They will be disarmed. If they don't disarm, we are going to force them to disarm," Diemu said.

U.N. relief agencies and foreign governments fear an all-out offensive against Nkunda will sharply worsen an already catastrophic humanitarian situation in North Kivu, where some 370,000 people have fled fighting in the province this year.

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