The United States is helping to step up the manhunt for eight alleged Hutu ringleaders of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

The United States ambassador-at-large for war crimes, Pierre-Richard Prosper, is now in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as he publicises Washington's offer of up to $5m for information leading to their capture.

The US is putting up the money

The Interahamwe militia killed 800,000 of Rwanda's men, women and children in 100 days of terror and a special war crimes tribunal was created by the United Nations in Tanzania to bring the key figures to justice.

Eight individuals indicted by the International War Crimes Tribunal for Rwanda are thought to be in DR Congo or neighbouring Congo.

They are Augustin Bizimana, Jean-Baptiste Gatete, Augustin Bizimungu, Idelphonse Hategekimana, Augustin Ngirabatware, Idelphonse Nizeyimana and Callixte Nzabonimana.

Kinshasa's newspapers will publish the names and photographs of the men on Tuesday.

The US launched a public search in Kenya last month for the most prominent indicted Rwandan at large, Felicien Kabuga, who is accused of being a key financier of the genocide.

So far he has not been found.

In hiding

The American embassy in Kinshasa said the fugitive leaders of the guerrilla Army for the Liberation of Rwanda (Alir) continued to play a destructive role in fuelling the conflict in the Great Lakes region.

There are somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 Hutu militia fighters estimated to be in eastern DR Congo loosely aligned to Congolese government forces.

Mr Kabila and the Rwandan leader, Paul Kagame, are due to sign a peace agreement in South Africa on Tuesday.

Rwanda will promise to withdraw the 20,000 soldiers it has in DR Congo within three months.

In return, the Congolese authorities will track down and disarm Hutu militias on Congolese soil who were behind the genocide.