Humanitarian crisis in Congo

Panic grips Congo as rebels advance on town of Goma
• Forces loyal to warlord declare unilateral ceasefire
• UN warns of 'catastrophic' humanitarian crisis
Xan Rice in Nairobi

Congolese rebels closed in on the eastern town of Goma yesterday, causing panic among residents and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of international aid workers and UN staff.
Around 45,000 internal refugees, most of whom had only arrived on foot a day earlier, fled a displaced persons' camp near Goma as forces loyal to Tutsi warlord Laurent Nkunda battled international peacekeepers and government troops. After UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, warned of a humanitarian crisis of "catastrophic dimensions", the rebels announced last night they were declaring a unilateral ceasefire "to avoid panicking the population of Goma".
Nkunda's men have already captured several key towns near Goma in North Kivu province and raised fears of a return to full-scale war in Democratic Republic of Congo. The national army has been routed, and troops were reported to be fleeing Goma yesterday. Tension between Congo and Rwanda, which it accuses of supporting Nkunda, also increased sharply, as they traded accusations yesterday over cross-border artillery attacks. The US said while Rwanda was not directly involved in the fighting, its territory was being used to support rebels.
The rebel advance has caused alarm in the international community. The French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, called for the deployment of a hundreds-strong EU force to eastern Congo, while the UN security council expressed "grave concern" at the fighting and called an emergency meeting to discuss an urgent request for more troops for the UN peacekeeping force.
The US has dispatched its top Africa envoy, Jendayi Frazer, for talks in the Congolese capital Kinshasa. Louis Michel, the EU's development aid commissioner, was also there to meet President Joseph Kabila. Congo's previous wars between 1997 and 2003, which sucked in several neighbouring countries, caused the greatest loss of life anywhere since the second world war, with more than five million deaths, mainly from hunger and illness. Since then the mineral-rich east region has remained restive, despite a peace agreement signed by all main rebel groups in January this year.
Nkunda, who is though to have 5,000 fighters in his National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), claims to be protecting the minority Tutsi population in the east from Hutu militias linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Despite signing the deal he refuses to disarm, accusing government forces of breaking the ceasefire and collaborating with Hutu rebels.
Both the army and the CNDP rebels have a deep mistrust of Monuc (the UN mission to Congo), the 17,000-strong peacekeeping force, and have separately attacked it in recent days. Monuc has pledged to defend the North Kivu towns of Goma, Sake, Masisi and Rutshuru, which was abandoned by the Congolese forces. But Alain Doss, Monuc's chief, said the force was "stretched to the limit", and has requested additional support.
After coming under much criticism for failing to protect civilians, Monuc attack helicopters yesterday fired on Nkunda's forces in Kibumba, 19 miles north of Goma, stalling the rebel progress.
"We were positioned just 15km from town, but Monuc engaged us with their helicopter gunships," Amani Babu, a senior CNDP officer told Agence France Presse. "We think in two or three days we will be able to take the town of Goma."
Aid agencies say that would be a disaster. Around 250,000 people have been forced from their homes in North Kivu this year. Tens of thousands have fled their homes or shelters on foot this week. Around 30,000 arrived at a camp in Kibati, six miles north of Goma, in recent days, "exhausted and traumatised".
But the camp emptied yesterday when refugees saw government forces retreating south "fairly fast, and in fairly large numbers", according to Ron Redmond, a spokesman for the UN refugee agency.
Before the ceasefire announcement last night the atmosphere in Goma was tense. There were reports of government troops firing into the air and commandeering vehicles. Civilians hurled rocks at a UN compound near the airport as rumours swirled that the town was about to be overrun.
Emmanuel de Merode, the director of Virunga National Park, said: "There has been movement of government troops out of the town, which caused panic among the population."