Nairobi - United Nations forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo - MONUC - must be reinforced if peace in the country's east is to be re-established, British and French foreign ministers David Miliband and Bernard Kouchner warned Sunday.

"The international community must give emergency help, reinforce MONUC and help to enforce the agreements already reached," they said in a declaration issued in the Tanzanian capital Dar es Salaam.

"We cannot turn away - it is a matter of urgent necessity to resolve the crisis," the joint statement added.

The two ministers, who arrived in the region Saturday, were speaking after talks with Congo President Joseph Kabila in Kinshasa, Rwandan President Paul Kagame in Kigali and Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete in Dar es Salaam.

They also issued an appeal for the Congo government to restrain its troops and adhere to agreements long reached in the region.

Miliband had already said late Saturday it was up to the UN to ensure aid reached the tens of thousands of refugees forced to flee the fighting.

The BBC later reported UN food and medical aid was planned for the estimated 250,000 displaced by the recent fighting.

"We are not at the moment looking at sending British troops to join the UN force," Miliband was quoted as telling reporters during a visit to a refugee camp in eastern Congo.

Earlier Saturday, reports said that the Congolese and Rwandan presidents had agreed to attend a regional summit aimed at resolving the conflict.

The European Union's Aid Commissioner Louis Michel, who held talks with both leaders, told the BBC that Kabila and Kagame had agreed to meet at a summit involving the African Union and other African leaders.

Michel flew into the DR Congo on Thursday in an attempt to defuse the conflict between Tutsi rebels and government forces, which blew up into four days of full-scale fighting earlier this week.

UN peacekeepers joined the battle, pounding Rebel Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) with helicopter gunships.

UN peacekeepers were, however, stretched to the limit by the fighting and the UN's top envoy in DR Congo, Alan Doss, has called for more troops to add to the 17,000 contingent already in the sprawling Central African nation.

Nkunda on Wednesday evening called a ceasefire as his troops were on the verge of taking the major city of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Friday urged Nkunda to stick to the ceasefire and said the situation was "very threatening."

The ceasefire apeared to be holding - but fears were growing for the fate of the tens of thousands who fled the rebel advance.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR said the situation was "desperate." According to UNCHR, rebel forces forcibly emptied refugee camps and burned them to the ground during their advance on Goma. dpa