UN troops deploy to stop east Congo fighting

United Nations peacekeepers in helicopters and armoured troop carriers headed for the front line in eastern Congo yesterday to stop renegade soldiers advancing further after more than a week of fighting.

The UN mission in Democratic Republic of Congo said its troops were moving to set up a temporary buffer zone between the towns of Kanyabayonga and Lubero to keep rebels and loyal troops apart.

Accused in the past of being too passive when violence has flared in the vast central African nation, the world body stressed it was serious this time. Any unauthorised attempt to breach the zone would be repelled, it said in a statement.

"The helicopters are in the air and they have orders to shoot at any of the insurgents that move towards Lubero," a senior UN official in Congo said.

The violence along Congo's jungle border with Rwanda has raised fears of a return to war in Africa's Great Lakes region, where conflict and related hunger and disease have killed at least four million people over the past decade.

More than a dozen ambassadors and high-ranking diplomats from countries including the US, Britain, Russia and Nigeria met local military leaders and politicians in Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, to try to calm the situation.

"What is important is that a ceasefire is in place, that it is respected by everyone and from there we ensure all steps are taken to protect the population," the UN mission's chief in Goma, M'hand Ladjouzi, said after the meeting.

Congo's transitional government and its new national army, made up of former belligerents from the five-year civil war, have been struggling to maintain order in the east, prized for its mineral riches including gold and diamonds.

A company of around 120 South African peacekeepers arrived to reinforce Kanyabayonga, a farming town which was the scene of several clashes over the past week. A second company entered Lubero, around 70 km to the north.