UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has made a fresh plea for 3,000 more peacekeepers to be sent to the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In New York, Mr Ban also called for a ceasefire so aid workers could urgently help “at least 100,000 refugees” cut off in rebel-held areas near Goma.
A 17,000-strong UN force in Congo has been unable to stop the fighting or halt the rebel advance.
The UN Security Council is considering the call for reinforcements.
The UN head of UN peacekeeping operations, Alain Le Roy, said there were currently only 10 UN soldiers for every 10,000 inhabitants in eastern DR Congo.
See detailed map of the area
Rebel administration
He said this was not enough to protect the population from violence perpetrated by rebel groups and the Congolese army.
Recent fighting between government and rebel troops has displaced a quarter of a million people in the strife-torn region around Goma, the capital of North Kivu province.
Earlier, the rebel Congolese general, Laurent Nkunda, said he had formed an alternative administration in the area of eastern Congo that he controls.
In what observers say is his latest direct challenge to the central government, 12 ministers will take responsibility for a range of functions including police and security.
But the BBC’s Mark Doyle in eastern DR Congo says the move appears to be pure propaganda.
‘Looting and raping’
Our correspondent says it may annoy the government but is likely to be insignificant unless the rebels follow it up with further military action.
Meanwhile government troops have faced fresh accusations that they have been ransacking villages and raping civilians.
UN spokesman Lt-Col Jean Paul Dietrich said looting began around Kanyabayonga, 100 km (60 miles) north of Goma, on Monday afternoon and continued through the night.
He said UN peacekeepers and the Congolese army had been trying to intervene.
Rebel leader Gen Nkunda claims to be fighting to protect his Tutsi community from attacks by Rwandan Hutu rebels, who fled to DR Congo after Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.
On Monday, he threatened to take over the whole country if President Joseph Kabila’s government continued in its refusal to negotiate with him.
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