UN Security Council shrinks but renews deadly Congo mission

The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to renew its peacekeeping mission in Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday, March 31, but only after cutting troop levels 18 percent.

The Congo peacekeeping mission is the U.N.’s largest and most expensive. The United States, the largest U.N. contributor, wanted even larger cuts.

The $1.2 billion mission will send 16,215 troops to the Congo in an election year when violence is expected to increase.

The troop figure was a compromise between the U.S. suggestion of 15,000 and France’s request for 17,000.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres asked for 320 more police officers; the United States refused any increase above the existing force of 1,050.

The council also held a moment of silence for two U.N. investigators who were killed in an area of Congo undergoing a violent uprising.

The bodies of Michael Sharp of the United States and Zaida Catalan of Sweden were recently found after the two disappeared earlier in the month.