(Updates with Lord's Resistance Army attack on Dungu) By Hez Holland KIBATI, Congo, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Two European ministers promised help on Saturday to desperate refugees who have fled fighting in east Congo, but played down the idea of the European Union sending troops there to protect civilians. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband were mobbed by displaced civilians at a camp in Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu province, where a recent rebel offensive triggered a humanitarian crisis. They were on a mission to gauge what aid the EU could give to Congo's government and hard-pressed United Nations peacekeepers and foreign aid workers struggling to help tens of thousands of starving, thirsty and exhausted people. France, which holds the rotating EU presidency, this week proposed the idea of the bloc sending up to 1,500 troops to Congo to support the 17,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission there and to help deliver increased humanitarian assistance. But while Kouchner and Miliband both said a humanitarian operation was on the cards, they indicated the option of an EU military deployment, which has encountered resistance from some European member states, was only under study. "I don't think we're here to discuss an EU force. We're here to discuss the humanitarian situation," Miliband said at Kibati, 20 km (12 miles) north of North Kivu provincial capital Goma. Miliband and Kouchner, who earlier met Congolese President Joseph Kabila, later flew to neighbouring Rwanda to lobby President Paul Kagame's government to support a lasting peace deal in North Kivu. Congo and Rwanda have accused each other of backing rival rebel groups. The recent offensive by Tutsi rebels loyal to renegade General Laurent Nkunda, and killings and looting by Congolese army troops, have created what foreign relief workers call a "catastrophic" situation in North Kivu. But a ceasefire declared by Nkunda seemed to be holding. While Miliband and Kouchner pledged more European aid, refugees said what they really needed was more security. "We only want to return home. Food isn't a solution," refugee Emelie Manigera said at Kibati. The world's largest U.N. peacekeeping force is deployed in Congo but has been badly stretched by rebel and militia violence and was unable to halt Nkunda's rapid advance in the east. In a separate attack in the north of the country, Ugandan rebel group the Lord's Resistance Army raided the town of Dungu, near Congo's border with Sudan, the United Nations said. Nine people were killed and around 50,000 fled the violence, adding to the already huge number of Congolese who have been forced to leave their homes to escape fighting. PEACE SUMMIT PLANNED Earlier in Congo's capital Kinshasa, Kouchner said EU member states which met in Brussels on Friday to discuss the Congo situation were agreed on the idea of a humanitarian operation. But he added the option of sending troops "must be studied". At talks in Kinshasa and Kigali on Friday, EU Development and Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel obtained the agreement of Kabila and Kagame to meet at a summit. The United Nations, the EU and the United States have been lobbying the two leaders to make a lasting peace deal that will end any support for insurgent groups. In Kigali, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer said after meeting Kagame that Washington would support a reinforced humanitarian mission by the EU. "It is very clear that MONUC (the U.N. mission in Congo) is stretched thin right now ... an outside force like an EU force could come in and provide humanitarian assistance so that the humanitarian workers can access the population," she said. Foreign relief workers have restarted humanitarian operations around Goma. At Kibati, hundreds of refugees, including children, stampeded to obtain high-protein biscuits being distributed by U.N. children's agency UNICEF. "Both my sons are very ill, they have stomach cramps and are very weak. Our biggest problem is food and just to survive each day," said one refugee who gave his surname as Musekura. Rebel chief Nkunda, who says he is fighting to defend the Tutsi minority in Congo's east, abandoned a January peace deal and has called for a neutral mediator to negotiate. An estimated one million people have been forced from their homes in North Kivu by two years of violence that has persisted despite the end of a 1998-2003 war in the vast, former Belgian colony, rich in copper, cobalt, gold and diamonds. (Editing by Keith Weir) (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/) (Additional reporting by Joe Bavier in Kinshasa and Frank Nyakairu in Kigali; Writing by Pascal Fletcher)
European Union Aid Commissioner Louis Michel addresses the media in Kigali October 31, 2008. Michel is in Rwanda for talks with President Paul Kagame after visiting Democratic Republic of Congo's President ...
