The UN Security Council voted unanimously yesterday to send some 3,000 extra peacekeepers to the Democratic Republic of Congo to help protect civilians and end weeks of conflict in the turbulent east.
The UN peacekeeping mission in Congo, known by its French acronym, Monuc, is the world's biggest UN 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, UN officials say.
Aid workers have criticised 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 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 UN 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 UN ambassador, Jean-Maurice Ripert, who led negotiations on the French-drafted reinforcement resolution, suggested yesterday that Monuc needed to be more aggressive in protecting civilians and implementing its mandate.