Nairobi, Kenya ? A Congolese rebel leaders said Saturday that rival Ugandan troops and tribal fighters killed nearly 1,000 civilians in raids on three towns in northeastern Congo.

A Ugandan military spokesman, however, said about 400 people were killed. Capt. Felix Kulayigye put blame solely on the tribal fighters, saying Ugandan troops arrived after the bloodletting.

The violence in Congo’s restive Ituri province was the latest threat to bringing peace back to the central African nation after 4 1/2 years of civil war.

On Saturday, a spokesman for Congo President Joseph Kabila said the leader ratified a transitional constitution under a power-sharing deal that seeks to end the war.

“The head of state has shown that he is ready to lead a new transitional government with the Congolese and all its factions,” he said.

Under the deal, Kabila would lead the transitional government with four vice presidents representing the present government, the two largest rebel groups and the unarmed political opposition.

The transitional government is supposed to govern for up to 2 1/2 years, after which Africa’s third-largest country would hold its first democratic elections since independence from Belgium in 1960.

It was not clear when the transitional government will be set up, and analysts predict that implementing the agreement will be difficult.

Thomas Lubanga, head of the rebel Union of Congolese Patriots, or UPC, said 942 people were killed Thursday and Friday during raids by Ugandan soldiers and allied Lendu tribal fighters trying to kill him.

He said most of the people were killed Thursday during a dawn raid on Largu, about 25 miles north of Bunia, the capital of the restive Ituri province. Four weeks ago, he was pushed out of Bunia, where he was in hiding with dozens of his fighters.