Nice Promises but No Additional Troops

The UN needs to stand behind its pledge of additional forces for eastern and northeastern Congo.

Human Rights Watch Calls for End to Civilian Massacres in Congo

Senior Human Rights Watch Researcher Anneke Van Woudenberg visited northeastern Congo in January. She urges the Security Council, which is to discuss the DRC Tuesday, to follow through on its pledge of additional forces.

"The United Nations still only has less than 300 peacekeepers in this massive and vast region of northern Congo. So one of the problems clearly is that there are simply not enough blue helmets, not enough peacekeepers to be able to deal with the issues of protection of civilians," she said. "It Is nice for the Security Council to have made nice declarations and to make nice promises, but those are meaningless until additional troops arrive on the ground."