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Ugandan president says Congo peace deal nearly done

WASHINGTON, May 6 (Reuters) - Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni told President George W. Bush on Monday a peace deal in the Democratic Republic of Congo was near completion, playing down disputes over the new administration's make-up.

Museveni said he briefed the U.S. president on efforts to end Africa's biggest war, in which 2 million people have died, most from malnutrition, disease and lack of health care. Six foreign armies have been drawn into the fight for the former Zaire and its precious minerals.

"The parties there are near an agreement," Museveni told reporters after meeting with Bush and other top U.S. officials. "There just remain a few issues, like how to share elected positions. But I'm sure they will finalize those."

Museveni said he also urged Bush to do more to open the "big American market" to African goods, saying, "We think this is the best way to stimulate growth in Africa."

He welcomed Bush's plan to provide an extra $5 billion a year in aid to impoverished countries that combat corruption and open their markets, but said the United States should use "some of the money to give incentives for American companies to invest in Africa."

Congolese President Joseph Kabila and Jean-Pierre Bemba of the Ugandan-backed Movement for the Liberation of Congo signed a partial deal to end the many-sided war at talks in South Africa last month.

The deal, under which Kabila becomes interim president and Bemba prime minister, was rejected as a sham by the biggest rebel group, the Rwandan-backed Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD). It sought more senior posts than the jobs offered under the deal -- the defense ministry and parliament speakership.

Analysts say without RCD involvement the country could slide back into full-scale war after a year of shaky peace efforts.

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