BELGIUM SAID it could contribute to a possible European force in its former colony the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to bridge the period while the UN prepares to step up its peacekeeping force there.
The UN Security Council voted last week to send 3,000 extra peacekeepers to the DRC to help protect civilians and end weeks of conflict.
The UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC, known as Monuc, is the world's biggest UN operation and will be increased temporarily to around 20,000.
Monuc chief Alan Doss told the council the reinforcements would not be on the ground for at least two months. "This is why we have and continue to support the calls for the deployment of a multinational force," Mr Doss said.
Belgian foreign minister Karel de Gucht said UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon had requested a European role in such a force and that EU foreign ministers would discuss various options.
"If this were a European operation with a very well-defined command structure . . . my country would be ready to participate," Mr de Gucht said. Mr Ban sees the need for a bridging force lasting up to six months, de Gucht said.
In colonial times, the DRC was a personal fiefdom of Belgium's King Leopold II, living under a brutal enslavement regime marked by atrocities. Relations with Belgium have been rocky at times since independence in 1960.
The UN Security Council received a report from Mr Ban's office that said government soldiers and rebels had committed serious human right abuses, including mass killings, arbitrary executions, rape and torture.
Tutsi rebel leader Laurent Nkunda's month-long campaign against government forces in the eastern province of North Kivu has displaced 250,000 people.
The fighting has compounded the suffering in a country where some 5.4 million people have already died of violence, hunger and disease in the past decade.
Human Rights Watch, Oxfam and other non-governmental agencies yesterday urged the security council to rewrite the mandate of Monuc to focus more on protection of civilians, especially women and children.