Nairobi/Kinshasa - The Democratic Republic of Congo has accused Rwanda of planning to attack the eastern Congolese town of Goma in support of Tutsi rebels, reports said Thursday.

The UN-backed Radio Okapi said that Atoki Ileka, DR Congo's ambassador to the United Nations, late Wednesday called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to ward off the alleged impending attack.

Nairobi/Kinshasa - The United Nations has blasted rebel Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda for saying he plans to expand his rebellion from the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to encompass the entire sprawling Central African nation.

"MONUC (the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo) and the international community will not tolerate this new attempt to destabilize the political process," MONUC said in a statement late on Friday evening.

Nairobi, Kinshasa  - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Tuesday called on warring factions in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to respect the civilian population.

The ICRC said over 100,000 civilians have been forced to flee since fighting resumed between renegade Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda's forces and government troops in late August.

Oslo - A Congolese priest was named winner of the 2008 Rafto Prize on Thursday for his work supporting reconciliation and peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and speaking out against mass rapes of women as part of the "strategy of war."

Pastor Bulambo Lembelembe Josue was cited as "a visionary church leader with high personal integrity and a unique ability to turn strategies into concrete action," the jury said, noting that women were often the victims of the long-standing conflict in the African nation.

Nairobi/Goma (Congo) - UN children's fund UNICEF sees life and health of children in Congo's Nord-Kivu region increasingly threatened by enduring fighting.

"This fighting is again having a brutal impact on the children and women of the Kivus," said Julien Harneis who heads the UNICEF operation in eastern Congo.

"Many children are split up from their families as they flee; in refugee camps they are even more vulnerable to malaria, measles, cholera and malnutrition," he added.

Last week's fighting had put all they had so far achieved in their battle against hunger and malnutrition at risk, Harneis said.

Kinshasa - Diplomats have expressed serious concern over recent fighting in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo and called on warring forces to respect a January ceasefire.

Rebels aligned with rogue general Laurent Nkunda and government soldiers have been involved in firefights in the eastern North Kivu province.

The United Nations' peacekeeping mission in the DR Congo (MONUC) has also fired warning shots at troops from Nkunda's Congres National pour la Defense du Peuple (CNDP) to prevent them from from capturing new territory.

Thousands have fled the fighting into neighbouring Uganda.