BAN KI-MOON, the UN secretary general, is to travel to the Democratic Republic of Congo to press for an end to the "catastrophic" conflict there as the Tutsi rebel leader, Laurent Nkunda, threatened to attack Goma and march across the country after the government rejected direct peace negotiations.
The UN described Goma yesterday as a "red line", and France called for the peacekeeping operation in eastern Congo to be strengthened with better troops and a stronger mandate.
UN peacekeepers could do no more than stay in their bases as heavy fighting between Nkunda's forces and Hutu rebels flared again around Rutshuru, the town north of Goma seized by the Tutsi general last week, despite a ceasefire.
UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, said it had found three of its camps near Rutshuru destroyed and empty, and it was searching for the 50,000 people who had been living in them.
The Congo government said it was only prepared to negotiate collectively with all rebel groups, which include Rwandan Hutu extremists and local militias. In response, Nkunda threatened to take his war all the way to the capital, Kinshasa.
"If they refuse to negotiate, it will mean they will be ready to only fight and we will fight them because we have to fight for our freedom," he said. "Goma is just a place to pass through . . . When they force us to come down to Goma we won't stop there."
Militarily, all that stands between Nkunda and his seizure of Goma are several hundred UN peacekeepers after government troops fled the rebel advance.
But an assault on the town would almost certainly draw a strong international reaction and create problems not only for Nkunda but neighbouring Rwanda, which is widely perceived as backing him.
The head of UN peacekeeping, Alain Le Roy, said on a visit to Goma that his forces would do all they could to defend the town from attack by the rebels, who have halted near the outskirts. "Our priority is Goma - to make sure Goma is a red line."
The French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, called for the UN peacekeeping mission to be given more troops and a stronger mandate. He said the force needed "more of an offensive capability".
"We need different soldiers, and different rules of engagement," he said.