Congo-Kinshasa: Top UN Envoy Voices Hope for Additional Troops in Volatile East

The top United Nations envoy to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) today expressed hope that the Security Council will shortly approve a request for 3,000 additional troops to buttress blue helmets already on the ground in the country’s east, the scene of fierce recent conflict.Currently, the UN peacekeeping mission in the country, known as MONUC, has nearly 6,000 troops in North Kivu province, which has been wracked by fighting between Government forces and rebel militias.The Council’s authorization for extra forces will “enable us to reinforce our presence, particularly in North Kivu, which is really needed given the pressures on us from many direction,” Alan Doss, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, told reporters in New York via video link from the DRC.