KIGALI -- UN Security Council Ambassadors flew into Rwanda on Monday on the last and most critical leg of an eight-country African tour aimed at boosting peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Burundi.

"The security council mission considers that this official visit to Rwanda is of key importance for the future of the peace process in the DRC," French UN Ambassador Jean-David Levitte, who is leading the delegation, told international journalists on arrival here.

"We recognize fully the security problems of Rwanda and we will want to address that within the framework of the Lusaka accord, so that the whole region, when the accord is implemented, will be living in peace as good neighbors with full respect of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity of all countries in the region," he said.

The delegation was due to meet Rwandan President Paul Kagame later in the day, AFP reported.

With some 20,000 troops in the DRC, and the hold it enjoys over the main wing of the rebel Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD), Kigali has a key role to play in a three-pronged peace initiative that the Security Council has been pushing for the last week.