EU could send troops for DR Congo aid mission

(PARIS) - The European Union is considering sending troops on a humanitarian mission to the strife-hit Democratic Republic of Congo, the French EU presidency said Thursday.

France's Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has suggested sending up to 1,500 troops to back up the UN peacekeeping mission that is struggling to keep rebels from overrunning the strategic eastern city of Goma.

Asked if a decision had been made, Kouchner told reporters that ambassadors from EU member states would meet "this afternoon or tomorrow morning and we can decide on an assistance which could take that form."

Kouchner stressed that a possible deployment would be drawn from military battle groups that the European Union keeps on permanent standby, but would not be involved in combat operations.

"From our point of view, this response must be humanitarian and bring assistance to civilian populations who have been recently displaced and to the population of Goma," he told a news conference held jointly with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

Solana said the EU's Political and Security Committee (PSC) would "analyse the options" for intervention, stressing that "humanitarian aid is the number one priority."

The EU envoy said earlier the bloc was considering "all options, all possibilities of helping, politically, from a humanitarian point of view."

A European diplomat said the committee would meet on Friday morning in Brussels to "discuss restoring security to Goma and its environs and ways of ensuring that the current ceasefire is prolonged."

"Even if the option of a military operation may not be the most likely at this point, nothing is being ruled out and nothing has been decided," the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Since January last year, the EU has had two multinational battle groups permanently available for deployment, with units from 25 of the bloc's 27 member states rotating through the role.

One of the groups currently on standby is made up of British troops, while the other includes troops from Germany, France, Spain, Luxembourg and Belgium, under Franco-German command.

"There are these groups that could be available. But how soon and to do what? We are working precisely on that question," Kouchner said.

He said an EU mission would probably bring "technical and humanitarian" support to the UN's 17,000-strong mission, MONUC.

"If a decision is taken, and it will not necessarily be, far from it ... then France would take part," he added.

Berlin gave a cool response to the French proposal to send in EU forces.

"For the German government, the current priority is for a political solution," a foreign ministry spokeswoman told AFP.

But Kouchner's call was echoed by the former colonial power in DR Congo as Belgium said it backed sending 2,000 to 3,000 troops to open up humanitarian corridors and enforce a ceasefire.

Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht said in an interview that "European military action makes sense" and indicated his country was ready to take part.

Congolese rebel leader Laurent Nkunda Thursday warned UN forces blocking his way to the refugee-swollen city of Goma his forces would open fire if the UN tried to halt their advance.

Nkunda's forces have captured several key towns in eastern DRC, sparking a humanitarian crisis involving tens of thousands of displaced people.

Both Solana and Kouchner insisted on the need for a diplomatic solution, with the French minister urging Rwanda and the DR Congo to apply "political pressure" to stop the fighting.

The Congolese government accuses Kigali of supporting Nkunda, while Rwanda has long demanded the DRC disarms Hutu rebels it accuses it of harbouring.