CONGO: Humanitarian workers involved in the Democratic Republic of Congo have urged the Government to agree to commit troops to a proposed European Union rapid reaction force for the war-torn country.
Congolese-born director of Christian Blind Mission Ireland David McAllister urged the Government to make an early commitment to put "moral pressure" on the EU's bigger nations.
"Irish troops would be welcome because they are seen as a neutral force that won't be there to impose anybody's will. Even a small Irish commitment would put pressure on larger EU countries to follow suit," he said. His view is supported by John O'Shea of Goal, who called for a "robust" EU force to support the UN's 17,000 "blue helmets" there.
Support came also from tropical medicine expert Dr Graham Fry, who lived in Democratic Republic of Congo for a number of years and still helps run a hospital in the province of Katanga, through an Irish evangelical organisation. He said an active force would be beneficial.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana is having difficulty mustering troops for the force requested by UN secretary general Kofi Anan, who will visit Democratic Republic of Congo on his two-week "farewell" tour of southern Africa.
Under-secretary general in charge of peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guéhenno, who is in Congo, called for the EU to supply "advanced elements".
Their role would be to prepare the ground for a UN deployment in the case of a post-election emergency, doing everything from finding accommodation to long-range reconnaissance patrols. They could also respond if election monitors or unarmed observers were threatened.
The likely shape of any Irish contribution would be a detachment of about 50 Army rangers - the Army's special forces - along with a number of communications and logistics experts and perhaps staff officers. This would be similar to the Irish contingent initially deployed in East Timor in 1999, and in Liberia in 2003.
The election is meant to draw a line under the horror of a six-year conflict involving seven countries, which caused 3.9 million deaths in Democratic Republic of Congo, mainly though starvation and disease.
"No country in the world is more deserving of our help," said Mr O'Shea.
"Congolese have the chance of a lifetime to vote in these elections but there are going to be winners and losers. It remains to be seen whether the results will be accepted by all the factions," said Mr McAllister, who has been working there since the 1970s.
"There isn't any one candidate or party to sort this problem out because they're all tainted with the same sickness - that is, ripping off the country."
Democratic Republic of Congo's war was marked by the sophisticated links between the combatants, arms dealers and the world markets for Congolese gold, diamonds, coltan (used in electronics), copper, timber and cassiterite (tin ore).
Power is shared between an array of former rivals, all of whom fought their way into government.
In Liberia a UN force of 15,000 dealt with 50,000 combatants from a population of 3.5 million spread over 100,000sq km (40,000sq miles), including 500,000 displaced persons.
Democratic Republic of Congo has four times as many combatants and displaced, and 20 times the population spread over 2.3 million sq km (900,000sq miles).