U.N. Security Council Approves Plan to Send Military Force to Congo
BERNARD SHAW, CNN ANCHOR: The United Nations Security Council Thursday approved a plan to send a large military force to Congo to monitor a fragile cease-fire in a war that involves various rebel factions and troops from several countries. CNN's senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth has the story.</s>RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There are only 83 U.N. military observers right now in Congo, home to what has been described by U.S. diplomats as Africa's first world war. By unanimous vote, the U.N. Security Council approved a deeper commitment, a force 5,500 strong.</s>STEWART ELDON, DEP. BRITISH AMBASSADOR TO UNITED NATIONS: The fighting must stop now. International humanitarian law must be respected.</s>ROTH: Earlier this month, this massacre in eastern Congo. But the U.N. peacekeepers, as in Bosnia, will not be there to make a peace. In fact they wont even go to Congo unless a cease-fire agreement signed last year is finally lived up to.</s>RICHARD HOLBROOKE, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UNITED NATIONS: I hope that history will record it as a major step away from the brink of the abyss. But as the resolution states, implementation depends first and foremost on the parties.</s>ROTH: Before the print on the resolution was dry, reports from Congo said President Kabila wants U.N. forces stationed only in rebel areas. But at the council, Congo's ambassador was grateful.</s>MWAMBA KAPANGA, CONGOLESE AMBASSADOR TO UNITED NATIONS (through translator): My delegation is gratified to see that after so much equivocation, the Security Council has heard the cries and lamentations of the Congolese people.</s>ROTH: The U.N. calls it a huge logistical challenge, observing a country the size of Western Europe, loaded with nine rebel groups and armies from at least six nations.</s>ROBERT FOWLER, CANADIAN AMBASSADOR TO U.N. (through translator): It falls precariously short of matching the mission's mandate with the resources needed for it to succeed. None of us wants to risk repeating the mistakes in Srebrenica.</s>ROTH (on camera): This vote simply authorizes the dispatch of a force for Congo. Now the U.N. needs offers of troops, observers and helicopters from member countries. But needed most of all -- security guarantees from African factions on the ground. A U.N. official said, we're not naive. We know the risks. But in order to get to the next stage, full disengagement of the combatants, we need to go check it out. Richard Roth, CNN, United Nations.