Hamburg - Laurent Nkunda, the rebel chief whose armies have swept aside Congolese government forces, aims to take over the whole of the Democratic Republic of Congo, he said in an interview published Wednesday in Germany.

He told the weekly newspaper Die Zeit that under his leadership, the DR Congo would take over a seat representing Africa in the United Nations Security Council within five years.

His forces have won control in tracts of the east of the DR Congo.

Nkunda, a Tutsi general, accused the government of failing the nation, "selling out the country to the Chinese" and cooperating with criminals.

He rebuffed criticism of atrocities by his forces, including one attack in January when 30 people were murdered, some of them with hammers, in a single village.

"I cannot rule out that civilians sometimes get killed. Perhaps they get caught in the crossfire," he said.

Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) has routed the Congolese army and seized control of territory in North Kivu province in recent weeks.

Nkunda has previously warned that unless the government talks to him, his forces - believed to number between 4,000 and 6,000 - will brush aside the Congolese army and march on the capital Kinshasa.

The DR Congo accuses Rwanda of backing Nkunda, who says he is fighting to protect Tutsis from Hutu militia. (dpa)