The rebels also agreed to allow wardens to return to the southern portion of the park, where two silverbacks gorillas were killed on January 5 and 11, to resume protective patrols, the charity Wildlife Direct said in a statement.

"This is a very positive result," the park's senior warden Paulin Ngobobo said after meeting in the remote forests of eastern DRC with an Nkunda commander known as Colonel Makenga.

"We weren't expecting to succeed given the overwhelming odds against," Ngobobo said.

"However, this is just another small step. We must keep up international pressure to ensure this doesn't happen again next week, next month or next year."

The killings of the two gorillas prompted fears of a mass slaughter and deep concern about the future of the species, only about 700 of which remain in the wild, all in the mountains of Rwanda, Uganda and the eastern DRC.

Nkunda's men, blamed for sowing insecurity in parts of eastern Congo, were blamed for the deaths of both gorillas, which were slaughtered and then eaten.

Richard Leakey, the famed Kenyan conservationist who founded Wildlife Direct, said the rebel pledge was a direct result of publicity generated about the killings through the Internet.

"This latest turn of events shows that after years of working in isolation the rangers are able to use the Internet and blogs to astounding effectiveness," he said.

"This result could never have been achieved before and signals a whole new way for African rangers to (help) critically endangered species," Leakey said.

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