WASHINGTON, Nov 30 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will meet with the leaders of Democratic Congo and its neighbors next week to try to forge a common policy against rebel armies in the strife-torn African region, a senior diplomat said on Friday.

Rice will be in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, on Dec. 5 to join leaders from the African Great Lakes region -- Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda -- in talks about confidence-building and joint security, Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer told reporters.

The focus of talks will be to develop common strategies to deal with "negative forces" including the FDLR (Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda), made up of key figures in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, as well as the Lord's Resistance Army and renegade Tutsi Gen. Laurent Nkunda, Frazer said.

Those forces have been fighting over territory and resources in lawless eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a conflict that has embroiled neighbors of the vast central African country formerly called Zaire.

Congo's President Joseph Kabila met President George W. Bush in Washington last month and appealed for U.S. help in trying to stabilize his country. Kabila has been battling to forcibly disarm soldiers in North Kivu province in the east, loyal to Nkunda.

Frazer said Washington backed Kabila's efforts and recognized his need to assert sovereignty over his territory. But to avoid further bloodshed, the United States was urging dialogue and offers of asylum for Nkunda.

"We've been urging Nkunda (and) the government of Kabila to try to end this through peaceful means and I think the best way is for Nkunda to go into exile," she said.

"He hasn't been willing to do that up to this point, so it may be necessary for President Kabila to bring greater pressure on him including military pressure, but that's a problem for the civilian population," Frazer added.

The conflict in the eastern province reflects the political and ethnic tensions behind Congo's 1998-2003 war in which six neighboring countries, including Rwanda, invaded Congo to plunder its vast mineral wealth.

On Rice's third trip to sub-Saharan Africa since becoming secretary of state in 2005, Rice will also discuss conflicts in Somalia and Sudan with African Union members, the United Nations and east African ministers, said Frazer.

In addition, the top U.S. diplomat will during her two-day stay hold talks with the leaders of Ethiopia, which cooperates closely with the United States on counter-terrorism issues and efforts to counter HIV/AIDS.

(Reporting by Paul Eckert, editing by Vicki Allen)

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