President Moi said that the problems of Congo could not be solved through killing. All uninvited foreign troops in Congo should withdraw immediately, he said.

The Kinshasa government has accused Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi of fighting alongside rebel forces. For his part, President Laurent Kabila has invited troops from Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia and Chad to help his forces.

At a meeting last month, President Arap Moi and the presidents of Tanzania and Uganda called for an international peacekeeping force to be deployed in Congo, and for the withdrawal of all foreign forces.

A senior US envoy, Susan Rice, is currently taking part of a seven-nation African tour aimed at ending hostilities in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Ms Rice has already visited Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia and Zimbabwe, but correspondents say little progress had been made.

On Tuesday she was kept waiting for several hours for a meeting with Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, who was apparently chairing a cabinet meeting.

During her three-day visit to Angola last week, Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos cancelled his meeting with her, saying he had to call a cabinet meeting at the same time.

No solution in sight

Most of the countries of southern and eastern Africa have now been drawn into efforts to solve the Congo crisis either by diplomatic or by military means - so far without any significant success.

At the end of last month, President Kabila and his allies, the leaders of Zimbabwe and Namibia, announced an offensive "to clear the enemy" from Congolese territory.