UN calls for more troops in Congo

The United Nations has called for more peacekeeping troops to protect civilians in the eastern DR Congo, amid fears that a cholera outbreak in a refugee camp will spread among the quarter of a million people who have fled their homes in the fighting.

The head of UN peacekeeping, Alain Le Roy has asked the UN Security Council for more than 3,000 extra troops to protect civilians from the violence perpetrated by rebel fighters and the Congolese army in recent weeks.

There are 9,000 UN peacekeepers in eastern DR Congo but Le Roy said this was "not enough". This number only equates to 10 UN soldiers for every 10,000 inhabitants in the region.

At least 90 known cases of cholera have been found in the towns of Goma and Kibati but in recent weeks dozens of people have died eleswhere in eastern DR Congo. An outbreak was inevitable because of unsanitary conditions as thousands of refugees seek shelter in crowded, inhospitable areas.