Congolese Tutsi rebels are reported to have captured more villages in the east of the couontry.
Fighters from Laurent Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People had been fighting Mai-Mai militia, who support the Kinshasa government, for the town of Kiwanja in North Kivu province.
Civilians streamed from Kiwanja to nearby Rutshuru, north of the provincial capital, Goma, to escape what they said were attacks by the Mai-Mai militia.
Lt-Col Jean-Paul Dietrich of the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo (MONUC) said 'They have taken Nyanzale and Kikuku, therefore breaking their own declared ceasefire.'
A rebel spokesman accused government forces of breaking the ceasefire at Kiwanja, 70km north of Goma.
The North Kivu government army commander blamed the militia and said his own forces would respect the ceasefire.
And Gen Nkunda also said he was upholding the ceasefire he declared last week after halting his forces' advance towards Goma.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he would travel to the Great Lakes region to attend a summit in Nairobi which will discuss the crisis tomorrow.
