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By Crispian Balmer

MARSEILLE, France, Nov 3 (Reuters) - U.N. peacekeepers should be much more robust in defending refugees in eastern Congo, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on Monday, urging a major rethink of the huge United Nations' mission.

Kouchner visited the Democratic Republic of Congo at the weekend to gauge what aid the European Union could provide to help thousands of civilians who have fled a rebel offensive.

Speaking after his return, Kouchner called for an overhaul of the 17,000-strong United Nations force in the region and did not rule out the possibility of sending EU troops to help out.

"Do we need more soldiers? It is possible, but in any case we need different soldiers and different rules of engagement and a willingness for different leadership," he said after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in the French city of Marseille.

"We need to change things... We need to be a bit more offensive. I'm not saying we have to wage war, but we need to take part in the defensive operation," he said.

The former commander of the U.N. mission in Congo, known by its French acronym MONUC, resigned last month after seven weeks in the job. At the time, the United Nations said Lt. Gen. Vicente Diaz de Villegas of Spain was stepping down "for personal reasons".

Kouchner said on Monday he had resigned because he was frustrated with the U.N. way of operating.

"Why did the Spanish commander leave? Because he realised that he could not do what he wanted with the troops at his disposal," Kouchner said.

"We have whole brigades that are not capable of getting involved even in a defensive action, let alone an offensive action because the rules of engagement aren't strong enough, or are restrictive," he added.

SHORTCOMINGS

MONUC is the U.N.'s largest peacekeeping force but its shortcomings have been exposed by the recent violence, which saw insurgents reach the outskirts of Congo's North Kivu provincial capital Goma before calling a ceasefire.

Aid agencies have called the humanitarian situation in the region "catastrophic" and say tens of thousands of civilians are roaming the surrounding countryside unprotected, in need of shelter, food, water and medical care.

Kouchner complained there were only 800 U.N. peacekeepers in Goma and said this number had to be boosted. He denied the U.N. force lacked sufficient air support, saying they had 83 planes at their disposal.

U.N. peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy, a Frenchman, is in Congo to assess the situation and Kouchner said he would shake up the operation. "He will redistribute the forces," he said.

"Is there a military solution to this problem? No. Can we perhaps provide a minimum security to allow NGOs to distribute food? Certainly. Will that be done? I hope so," he added.

France, which holds the rotating EU presidency, suggested last week sending up to 1,500 EU troops to Congo to support the U.N. mission and help deliver humanitarian assistance.

But some EU nations appear reluctant to get involved and Koucnher suggested the onus was on the United Nations to decide whether it needed extra firepower.

"Nothing prevents the United Nations from asking for European troops. Should that be within the U.N. operation or outside, as a certain number of European nations have said, well, we need to think about that and make a decision." (Reporting by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

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