U.N. council approves increase in Congo peacekeepers

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously on Thursday to send some 3,000 extra peacekeepers to Democratic Republic of Congo to help protect civilians and end weeks of conflict in the turbulent east.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo, known by its French acronym MONUC, is the world's biggest U.N. peacekeeping operation and will be increased temporarily to just over 20,000 troops and police once the reinforcements are deployed. But the deployment could take weeks and even months, U.N. officials say.

Aid workers have criticized MONUC for lack of action in allowing a humanitarian disaster to develop in Congo's North Kivu province, where a quarter of a million people have fled recent fighting between the Congolese army and Tutsi rebels.

While Congo's government and aid agencies welcomed the extra U.N. troops, some groups urged the European Union to immediately send a bridging rapid reaction force, citing likely delays of up to two months before the U.N. reinforcements arrived.

"The question still remains, what do we do in the interim? The option of EU troops still has to be considered," said Anneke Van Woudenberg, Congo researcher of Human Rights Watch.

France's U.N. ambassador, Jean-Maurice Ripert, who led negotiations on the French-drafted reinforcement resolution, suggested that MONUC needed to be more aggressive in protecting civilians and implementing its mandate.

"The rules of engagement, if they are strong enough, they are not being used strongly enough," he said.

UN FORCE'S ROLE

In Kinshasa, Congolese Foreign Minister Alexis Thambwe Mwamba, welcomed what he called "this quick response" by the Council, but said MONUC's equipment should also be improved.

"If MONUC protects civilians and keeps or imposes the ceasefire, then we'll think they have done their job," he said.

Congo's U.N. Ambassador, Atoki Ileka, told reporters the MONUC force boost would only make a difference if countries contributing troops removed restrictions on their use.

Some national contingents were reporting directly to their national capitals instead of to MONUC commanders, he said, and those troops "tend to be reluctant to engage" in combat. "We need to have some more robust rules of engagement," he said.

South Africa's U.N. Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo said MONUC's problem was not the rules of engagement but its mandate as a peacekeeping force supporting the Congolese national army.

"The DPKO (U.N. Dept. of Peacekeeping Operations) people keep telling us that the mandate is sufficient but we continue to doubt it," Kumalo told reporters.

He said the Congolese army was "falling apart." He added that South Africa, one of MONUC's troop contributors, did not rule out sending more soldiers to Congo.

In Congo, Lt.-Col. Jean-Paul Dietrich, military spokesman for MONUC, welcomed the adoption of the resolution.

"This is excellent news," he said. "Hopefully this will bring the peace process forward. It is now up to the contributing countries to come up with the troops."

AID AGENCIES SECURITY PLEA

Rebel Gen. Laurent Nkunda, who demands direct talks on Congo's future with President Joseph Kabila, moved his fighters back from some fronts this week after meeting with a special U.N. peace envoy, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Nkunda pledged to respect a shaky ceasefire and take part in U.N.-backed peace negotiations.

Aid agencies in Congo, who have clamored for more security to be able to help hundreds of thousands of refugees, said the U.N. reinforcements would help.

"I think it could make a difference, to help stabilize the situation a little further," said Jaya Murthy, spokesman for U.N. children's agency UNICEF.

But a French charity, Oxfam France-Agir Ici, said the likely delay in the arrival of the extra U.N. troops put lives at risk.

"The situation on the ground requires more troops immediately and only the EU is capable of responding quickly thanks to its special tactical groups," spokesman Nicolas Vercken said.

France, the current EU president, has mooted the idea of sending EU troops to Congo, but no decision has been taken.

"The diplomats say it is on the table but what we are getting is a lot of dithering," Human Rights Watch's Van Woudenberg said.

Congolese in the east, who have criticized the United Nations for failing to protect them, were cautious about the reinforcements.

"When they get more troops, we will see if they can protect Goma, and protect the people," said Balinda Mutumayi, a resident of the North Kivu provincial capital Goma. "Two months is too long, let them come in one week," Mutumayi added.

It was not immediately clear which countries would send troops. Neither the United States nor the European Union were expected to contribute soldiers or police but council diplomats said they were likely to provide some military hardware.

This included helicopters, transport planes and aerial reconnaissance drones.

(Additional reporting by David Lewis in Kinshasa and Hereward Holland in Goma; Editing by Pascal Fletcher and Jon Boyle)