Rebels claim they are going to “withdraw troops” from humanitarian corridors, just after they — and government forces — broke a recently agreed ceasefire.
On the UN side, attack helicopters are ready to go, and the mission may potentially acquire about 3,000 new troops, according to a draft Security Council resolution to be voted on this week. The problem, of course, is that Member States will have to step up to contribute these troops, which will then likely take months to deploy. An fast-deploying European force not seeming to be in the works, the best we can hope for right now is for countries to offer their troops to the UN force as expeditiously as possible.
UPDATE: Refugees International’s Erin Weir, writing from on the ground in eastern Congo, is frustrated that “the member states represented on the UN Security Council have persisted in doing absolutely nothing.” She agrees that a delayed addition of troops is not going to be enough and that, after so much dithering, “time is not a luxury that the world can afford” in Congo.