MSN Money - Financial Times Business News: US rejects UN calls for more troops in Congo: "The US has rejected United Nations calls for an additional brigade of peacekeepers for its overstretched mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as the central African country gears up for its first multiparty elections in more than 40 years."...
Kofi Annan, UN secretary-general, has asked the Security Council for an extra 2,580 troops to quell unrest by Mayi-Mayi militia in the north and centre of the largely lawless, but strategically important, southern province of Katanga. A referendum on a new constitution is due in late November, and already delayed elections are scheduled for next year...
But the US says the UN should instead use troops from neighbouring countries if needed. "We must prioritise," said a US official. "We cannot do everything. We have advocated sharing troops for the election."
The Security Council is expected today to extend the Congo mission for a month, amid hopes for a compromise. That could include raising 500 more troops under the mission's current limit.
It is the second time Mr Annan had appealed for peacekeepers for Katanga, a huge, mineral-rich region where there is little effective state control and growing concerns about ethnic and political tensions, as well as the presence of tribal fighters and undisciplined government troops.
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