Extra numbers for Congo peacekeeping effort
Blue helmets in the Congo
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Friday, 21, Nov 2008 09:12
Peacekeeping forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo are to receive 3,000 extra personnel following a vote in the UN's security council yesterday.
The move will see an additional 2,785 troops and 300 police officers to aid the UN's largest peacekeeping mission, bringing the total number of peacekeepers to 20,000.
The unanimous resolution authorising the numbers was made following a request by secretary general Ban Ki-moon.
It only authorises the extra troops until December 31st and makes the stay conditional on the situation in the east of the country.
DRC's North Kivu and South Kivu provinces are seeing widespread suffering as rebel forces led by General Laurent Nkunda challenge the government's fragile military presence in the region.
An estimated 250,000 people have become internally displaced and many are now living in camps outside North Kivu's provincial capital Goma. Aid agencies are anxious the fighting ends to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe.
With additional fighting on ethnic lines fuelled by other militia groups, including the Mayi-Mayi, the situation remains unstable and it is hoped the extra UN troops will help calm the region.
Mr Ban's special envoy, former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, has held talks in the past week between Gen Nkunda and DRC president Joseph Kabila to try and devise a political solution to the conflict.