French, British Ministers In Congo On Peace Drive

Congo and Rwanda have accused each other of backing rebel groups involved in the eastern Congo violence.

The foreign ministers of France and Britain flew into Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday on an EU mission to try to secure peace in the east and help tens of thousands of civilians fleeing conflict.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband were due to meet Congolese President Joseph Kabila in Kinshasa and travel to the eastern city of Goma, threatened by an offensive by Tutsi rebels this week.

The attacks by fighters loyal to rebel leader, General Laurent Nkunda, and subsequent killings and looting by Congolese army troops have driven thousands of families from their homes in North Kivu province on the border with Rwanda.

Fearing more violence, the displaced civilians are seeking shelter, water and food in what aid workers are calling a catastrophic humanitarian situation.

Three days ago, Nkunda declared a ceasefire after his rebels fought to the gates of Goma, forcing back Congo's army and U.N. peacekeepers. U.N. officials have said the truce is fragile.

Kouchner, whose country holds the rotating European Union presidency, and Miliband are due to look at the possibility of an EU humanitarian airlift into North Kivu that could be protected by EU troops on the ground.

The two European ministers will later travel from Congo to neighbouring Rwanda for talks with President Paul Kagame.

Congo and Rwanda have accused each other of backing rebel groups involved in the eastern Congo violence.

INTERNATIONAL LOBBYING

At talks in Kinshasa and Kigali, EU Development and Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel obtained the agreement of Kabila and Kagame on Friday to meet at a summmit to discuss the conflict.

The United Nations, EU and the United States have been urgently lobbying the two leaders to make a lasting peace deal that will end any support for insurgent groups and pacify the violence-plagued region.

The United Nations said Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, who is African Union chairman, and AU Commission chief Jean Ping had proposed in telephone talks with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that a regional summit should be held over the conflict.

Nkunda, who says he is fighting to defend the Tutsi minority in Congo's east, abandoned a January peace deal and has called for a neutral mediator to negotiate.

An estimated one million people have been forced from their homes in North Kivu by two years of violence that has persisted despite the end of a 1998-2003 war in the vast, former Belgian colony, which is rich in copper, cobalt, gold and diamonds.

The world's largest United Nations peacekeeping force, 17,000-strong, is deployed in Congo, but has been badly stretched by rebel and militia violence on several fronts and was not able to halt Nkunda's rapid advance on Goma.