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More than 100,000 refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been cut off from humanitarian aid behind rebel lines, the UN secretary-general says.
Ban Ki-moon called for an immediate ceasefire between government troops and rebels in order to send desperately needed help to trapped civilians on Tuesday.
Tens of thousands of people have been displaced in eastern Congo's provincial capital of Goma as fighting between the rebels and the Congolese army rages.
"Because of the ongoing fighting, these people have received virtually no assistance. Their situation has grown increasingly desperate," Ban said.
"I urgently call for an immediate ceasefire in these areas to allow humanitarian assistance to reach many thousands of displaced persons."
But hostilities did not appear to be easing as a rare night gun battle erupted on Tuesday between rebels and the army just north of Goma.
Colonel Jean-Paul Dietrich, a UN peacekeeping spokesman, said mortars were used during the nearly one-hour battle near Kibati and the UN had urged the two sides to move farther apart to prevent the conflict from escalating.
More peacekeepers urged
Ban also called on the Security Council to send 3,000 more troops to strengthen the 17,000-strong UN peacekeeping mission, Monuc, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
"Monuc has been working hard to protect peace but they have been overstretched. Therefore we urgently need additional resources," he said.
General Babacar Gaye, the commander of Monuc, said his forces were doing their "very best to protect the population" but added: "[It] is a very tricky issue because we are stretched to the limit."
Even as members of the Security Council met to discuss the situation behind closed doors on Tuesday, aid agencies accused it of falling short of promises.
But council members say no action is likely before they see the secretary-general’s report on the situation that is not due until November 19.
The Southern African Development Community has promised sending military experts and equipment to the Congolese government.
Army abuses
Also on Tuesday, the UN accused government troops of widespread looting and human rights abuses against civilians in several towns in the eastern part of the country.
A spokesman for the UN peacekeeping mission said on Tuesday that violence against civilians, including the rape of women, had spread and was continuing.
The pillaged towns, including Kaina and Kirumba, are strategically located in the north of North Kivu province, where rebels loyal to Laurent Nkunda, the renegade general, control much of the territory following an offensive launched on August 28.
Mohammed Adow, Al Jazeera's correspondent reporting from Kibati in eastern Congo, said the UN needed at least 2,000 more troops to help supplement the overstretched force already in the DRC.
The 800 peacekeepers in Goma were not enough to stop the rebels from marching into the provincial capital should they choose to, our correspondent said.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Tuesday that "all the ingredients are there" for a cholera epidemic in the country.
"We have a serious risk of having a big cholera epidemic in this part of the world ... We have a population that is on the move, an unstable security situation and a population that does not have access to safe water and proper sanitation," Dr Claire-Lise Chaigot of the WHO told Al Jazeera from Geneva.
Chaigot said that fresh fighting would further hinder efforts to get aid and medical supplies to people already hard to reach.
PHOTO CAPTION
Congolese army soldiers man a checkpoint on a road leading into the Provincial city of Goma on November 9, 2008.
Al-Jazeera
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