UN Wants More Peacekeepers for Eastern Congo

The UN Security Council has been asked to provide more peacekeeping troops to contain the escalation of violence in the restive eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Briefing the Security Council at the UN headquarters last Friday, UN special envoy Alan Doss expressed grave concern about last month’s renewal of violent clashes mostly fomented by fighters loyal to Tutsi minority rebel leader Laurent Nkunda in North and South Kivu. The 17,000-strong Congo peacekeeping mission is currently the world’s largest UN deployment. [PE]