(Adds Bemba quotes)

By Joe Bavier

KINSHASA, March 30 (Reuters) - Congo ex-warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba, accused of treason after his militia fought government forces, is due to travel to Portugal this weekend but has no deal for exile there, the Portuguese ambassador said on Friday.

There have been intense diplomatic negotiations about the future of the former presidential contender, whose personal guard fought a two-day battle in the Congolese capital Kinshasa at the end of last week after refusing to disarm.

The clashes, in which up to 600 people were reported killed, dealt a blow to international hopes for a fast consolidation of democracy in Democratic Republic of Congo after last year's landmark elections in the former Belgian colony.

Bemba's forces were routed, he took refuge with his family in the South African embassy and the government ordered his arrest for high treason. Diplomats said he would travel to Portugal, fuelling speculation he might go into long-term exile.

"We are still negotiating, but my hope is to leave as soon as possible," Bemba said in comments published by the Chicago Tribune on Friday.

"I want to come back and continue playing my role as an opponent. But I don't know if the conditions will be clear for me to come back. The problem we have in Congo is Kabila doesn't like the opposition to be active. Kabila wants to kill me."

Kabila vowed on Monday to hunt down those behind the violence, but said Bemba's future was up to the courts.

Portugal's government said Bemba had asked to be allowed to travel for medical care in the Iberian country, where he had previously received treatment for a leg fractured in December.

"His departure is being negotiated with Congolese authorities with the mediation of the United Nations and South Africa," a Portuguese foreign ministry spokeswoman said.

"NO EXILE"

"There's no exile. He will leave this weekend in principle if all aspects of the agreements (for Bemba's departure) are in place ... he'll be there as a tourist," Portugal's ambassador to Congo, Alfredo Duarte Costa, told Reuters.

Bemba was a regular visitor to Portugal, where he had owned a house since 1987, but was not a Portuguese citizen, he said.

Costa said he believed Bemba already had a 90-day visa issued by Belgium for the 15 European countries that signed the so-called Schengen treaty, which include Belgium and Portugal.

Bemba's wife and children, who were sheltering with him in the South African embassy in Kinshasa, already had 90-day tourist visas for Portugal, he said.

Last week's fighting was the worst in Kinshasa since Congo's first free elections in over 40 years, aimed at restoring peace to the mineral-rich central African state after a 1998-2003 war.

President Joseph Kabila won the poll. He has said those behind last week's unrest would be hunted down.

But foreign ambassadors have criticised his government for what they called a premature and disproportionate use of military force to subdue Bemba's men, who refused to disarm under a plan to cut his security detail to 12 police officers.

Soldiers loyal to Kabila and Bemba had fought on several occasions in Kinshasa during last year's elections in clashes which killed at least 30 people and wounded many more. (Additional reporting by Axel Bugge in Lisbon)

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