He drew attention to steps that Congo has recently taken to introduce amnesty for rebels who surrender and to open a constituent assembly. Mr. Kapanga did not mention that one of the largest foreign forces in Congo is from Zimbabwe, which diplomats say is propping up Mr. Kabila's government. The Russian representative, Sergey Lavrov, who had held up the vote for 24 hours while fine points in the wording of the resolution were discussed, reflected the prevailing sense of caution in a speech today. The resolution adopted today expands a corps of 80 liaison officers for the region to a peace monitoring force as large as 500 people, backed by about 1,000 soldiers. A 4,000-person support staff will help offset the lack of roads and almost every service industry be needed to sustain a deployment of this size.
Congo is nearly as large as Europe.
The peacekeeping troops will have no military powers to disarm combatants or involve themselves in large-scale efforts to protect residents. They will only intervene as necessary if violence erupts in areas where they are deployed. Troops will share headquarters and administrative staffs with the joint military commission of Rwanda, Namibia, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Angola and Congo, all signatories of the peace agreement in Lusaka, Zambia, last July. The mission will include civilian specialists in child protection and human rights, reflectingchanges in the composition of peacekeeping operations. The resolution asks all personnel to be mindful of the dangers of AIDS and other diseases.