Nairobi/Kinshasa  - US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday was due to fly to the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where she is expected to call for the end of the use of rape as a weapon of war.

The sprawling Central African nation's bloody war officially ended in 2003, but various rebel groups have kept the conflict running in the eastern provinces.

The United Nations estimates that around 3,500 women have been raped in the conflict since the start of the year. Blame has been assigned to all parties in the conflict, in which government troops are attempting to put down a Rwandan Hutu rebel group.

"I will be pressing very hard for not just assistance to help those who are being abused and mistreated, and particularly the women who are turned into weapons of war through the rape that they experience, but also looking for ways to try to end this conflict," she told journalists en route to the Congolese capital Kinshasa on Monday.

On the fourth leg of her Africa tour, Clinton is expected to meet victims of rape in the eastern city of Goma, where many internally displaced are still sheltering after being forced to flee their homes.

Clinton is due to meet President Joseph Kabila, and is expected to push him to bring his troops into line.

The army late last year launched operations aimed at flushing out the Hutu rebel group, formed by the perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said that instances of rape had increased dramatically since the offensive began and that the majority of the rapes it investigated were carried out by government troops.

More than 5 million people are estimated to have died as a result of the DR Congo's 1998-2003 conflict and its long aftermath, most of them from hunger and disease.

Observers have pointed out that the simmering conflict in the east of the country has been driven by illegal mining, which lines the pockets of the various militia and government troops.

Clinton has highlighted this issue several times and is expected to touch on it again in DR Congo.

The top US diplomat is touring Africa to highlight the Obama administration's commitment to the continent, build trade links and promote better governance.

After DR Congo, Clinton is expected to visit Nigeria, Liberia and Cape Verde. She has already travelled to Kenya, South Africa and Angola. (dpa)