Britain and France today called for urgent international action to prevent a humanitarian disaster in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo. In a joint statement to mark the end of their two-day visit to the region, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner said there was “no excuse for turning away”.
Gordon Brown, meanwhile, expressed concern that the Congo could be lurching towards a repeat of the 1994 genocide in neighbouring Rwanda in which up to a million people were killed.
"I am very concerned by the situation in the Congo," he told reporters during his tour of the Gulf states. "Thousands have been displaced. We must not allow Congo to become another Rwanda."
But despite the strong words, there was no call from either Britain or France to send European troops to the region to bolster the beleaguered United Nations peacekeeping force.
Foreign Office minister Lord Malloch-Brown disclosed that contingency plans were being prepared for the deployment of a European Union force, including a British contingent.
However, with UK forces already stretched fighting on two fronts in Afghanistan and Iraq, Mr Miliband was quick to pour cold water on the suggestion that British troops could soon be caught up in a new overseas entanglement.
In their statement, Mr Miliband and Mr Kouchner called for a strengthening of the current ceasefire around the eastern city of Goma and the opening of secure routes for the delivery of humanitarian aid.
"There is no excuse for turning away," they said. "The international community must support humanitarian delivery, strengthen the United Nations force, and help promote and enforce agreements."
They called on the Congolese government to take "proper command" of its forces while establishing channels of communication with all communities within the country.
At the same time, they said that the Rwandan government needed to take "active steps" to help end the crisis.
The current conflict in the Congo has is roots in the genocide 14 years ago in neighbouring Rwanda where up to a million people were killed when Hutu extremists turned on their Tutsi neighbours.
Some 250,000 people are thought have fled their homes in recent weeks since the breakdown of a UN-brokered ceasefire in the region.
The rebel leader General Laurent Nkunda has said that he returned to arms in order to protect his Tutsi community from Rwandan Hutus who fled to the Congo after carrying out the genocide of 1994.
However, his own forces — which are now poised on the outskirts of the regional capital Goma, after Congolese government troops fled in the face of their advance — have also acquired a reputation for murder, rape and looting.
The Rwandans have been accused of supporting Gen Nkunda — a claim they deny — while the rebels in turn accuse the Congolese government of backing the Hutu militias.
During their visit, Mr Miliband and Mr Kouchner held talks with both Congolese president Joseph Kabila and Rwanda's president Paul Kagame in an effort to persuade them to use their influence to bring the fighting to an end.