London-based Wildlife Direct had accused rebel guerrillas loyal to mutinous Congo army general Laurent Nkunda of slaughtering two silverbacks within the past month.

The environmental group had formed an alliance with the Frankfurt Zoological Society in a media campaign to halt the killings.

A Wildlife Direct statement said one of Nkunda's commanders met senior Congolese national park warden Paulin Ngobobo and agreed to halt gorilla killings.

The meeting was mediated by United Nations and Congolese army officials together with the Frankfurt Zoological Society.

Only about 700 mountain gorillas are believed to remain in the wild. More than half of them live in Virunga National Park in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. That part of the country bore the brunt of a 1998-2003 war and humanitarian disaster that killed some 4 million people.

Photo: Laurie L. Snidow