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French Minister of Cooperation and Development Marcel Debarge told AFP Friday that progress made over the past days bodes well for a peaceful political settlement to the conflict in Rwanda.
Debarge earlier this week visited Rwanda and neighbouring Uganda from they originally launched their rebellion.
Diplomats in New York said France would be willing to place under U.N. command its 600 troops deployed in the African country, officially to protect more than 400 French residents and other foreigners in the former Belgian colony.
In Dar Es Salaam, Tanzanian foreign ministry director for Africa and the Middle East, Ami Mpungwe, said delegates from both sides had demonstrated "high spirit and commitment towards an amicable solution."
He said the Tanzanian-mediated discussions would go on overnight Friday and a joint communique was expected Saturday.
The government delegation is led by Prime Minister Dismas Nsengiyaremye and RPF's by chairman Alex Kanyarengwe.
Extensive peace talks between the two sides in the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha stalled early last month after the Tutsi-based RPF launched an anti-government offensive to stop an alleged massacre of the minority Tutsi people by forces of the Hutu-dominated government of President Juvenal Habyarimana.
In another development, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said two ICRC teams were near the front lines in northern Rwanda to provide assistance to hundreds of wounded and sick who have been evacuated from combat zones to hospitals.
ICRC surgeons have operated on 70 people in Kigali during the latest clashes between rebels and government forces.
The ICRC also distributed 27 tonnes of medical supplies to Kigali hospitals and medical centers in rural areas.
According to ICRC figures, 860,000 people had been displaced due to the fighting in the little country.
bur/gk/ma AFP AFP SEQN-0402
