UN aid convoy rolls in to relieve Congo's refugees

A United Nations aid convoy escorted by UN peacekeepers crossed into the rebel-held zone of eastern Congo today as supplies for more than 250,000 refugees finally started getting through.

Twelve all-terrain vehicles and two lorryloads of UN peacekeepers rolled through the front line separating Congolese army troops and Tutsi rebels, whose offensive last week triggered a humanitarian emergency.

The convoy, carrying aid workers, medical supplies and water, is heading through the North Kivu province to Rutshuru, a town captured last week by rebels loyal to renegade Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda. He has declared a ceasefire, which is reportedly holding, but there were fears that he is about to launch a major offensive to take the provincial capital Goma. He argues that his army is defending Tutsis against Hutu extremists.

It will be the first co-ordinated international effort to reach at least 50,000 displaced civilians whom UN officials fear have left unprotected camps around Rutshuru, 45 miles north of Goma. Refugees are roaming the bush, seeking shelter, food, water and care.

The recent offensive by Gen Nkunda's fighters, combined with killing and looting by renegade Congolese troops, has turned the humanitarian situation in North Kivu into a catastrophe, say aid groups.

Gordon Brown led international calls for action to prevent a massacre in the Congo. In 1994, 800,000 people were killed in Rwanda's genocide, seen as the origin of the Congo crisis.

On a trip to Gulf states, the Prime Minister said: "We must not allow Congo to become another Rwanda."

At the weekend, Foreign Secretary David Miliband and French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner urged Congo president Laurent Kabila and Rwanda president Paul Kagame to intervene to stop fresh clashes and allow aid agencies to deal with the refugee crisis.

"They were warned: 'You need to call off the dogs. You will be held to account if bad things happen'," said one British official.

Contingency plans have reportedly been drawn up for Britain to send up to 700 troops as part of an EU force to ensure aid gets through. Mr Miliband today told BBC Radio 4's Today: "We haven't ruled anything out. It's possible."