U.N. Seeks Reinforcements in E. Congo

Congolese gather at an improvised displaced persons camp in Kibati, 15 miles north of the provincial capital of Goma, near where fighting was centered. Other refugees fled to Uganda. (By Walter Astrada -- Getty Images)

Doss said he was caught off guard this week by the abrupt resignation of the Spanish general leading the peacekeeping mission after seven weeks in the job. Gen. Vicente Díaz de Villegas y Herrería cited "personal reasons" for leaving, but U.N. officials said he had complained that the mission lacked a strategic vision, a workable mandate and sufficient resources.

Doss said he had warned the Security Council this month that the 17,000-member U.N. mission in Congo lacked the resources to ensure the protection of civilians. The U.N. Security Council met late Tuesday to discuss the crisis.

More than 200,000 people have fled the fighting since August. In Goma on Tuesday, U.N. workers were preparing for an influx of 30,000 people on the move with babies, mattresses and pots and pans tied to their backs. Others were fleeing into Uganda and towns along the Rwandan border.

"Right now, civilian protection should be the paramount issue," said Erin Weir, an advocate with the group Refugees International, who was locked in her compound in Goma with other aid workers.

"It's important for MONUC to patrol and protect. But they also have to be deployed to deal with the root causes of the conflict," Weir added. "I can't say whether the rebels or the [Hutu militias] are the bigger risk for Congo. But at this point, neither problem can be solved without dealing with the other."

Lynch reported from the United Nations. Special correspondent Caleb Kabanda in Goma contributed to this report.