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DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA - The French and British foreign ministers said on Sunday that a ceasefire between government forces and rebels in the Congo must be strengthened but only a serious political effort could avert a worse crisis.
They called on the governments of the Democratic Republic of Congo and neighboring Rwanda to honor their commitments under a previous peace deal.
Meanwhile regional presidents could meet in Nairobi in the coming week to discuss the crisis, Tanzania's foreign minister said at a joint news conference with the two European ministers.
An offensive by rebels loyal to General Laurent Nkunda reached the outskirts of the eastern Congo border city of Goma last week before Nkunda called a ceasefire. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes, prompting aid agencies to warn that a catastrophic situation was unfolding.
"The ceasefire last Wednesday needs to be bolstered. The crisis, even if averted in the short term, will return without a new, vigorous and united political effort," British Foreign Minister David Miliband and France's Bernard Kouchner said in a joint statement.
They are visiting the region to gauge what aid the European Union can give to alleviate the humanitarian crisis.
On Saturday, however, they played down the idea that the EU would send troops to protect civilians.
They said the Congo government must take proper command of its forces -- who have been accused of looting and killing civilians -- and take steps to talk to different communities in the country and with its neighbors.
They also called on Rwanda to honor its commitments under the so-called Nairobi Accord.
Rwanda and Congo accuse each other of backing rival rebel groups. The two countries agreed in Nairobi last November that Congo's army would forcibly disarm Hutu militias.
Rwanda's Tutsi-led government agreed in return to seal the border and armed groups, in particular Nkunda's mostly Tutsi fighters, did not receive help from across the border.
Tanzania's Foreign Minister Bernard Membe said it was hoped that an emergency regional summit would be held Nairobi next week to discuss the crisis. Kenya has traditionally been seen as a neutral player in the various regional conflicts.
The world's largest U.N. peacekeeping force is deployed in Congo but has been badly stretched by rebel and militia violence and has been unable to halt Nkunda's rapid advance in the east.
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, rich in copper, cobalt, gold and diamonds. --REUTERS
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