By Ingrid Melander and David Brunnstrom
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union ministers were split on Monday over the U.N.'s call for an EU force to boost peacekeepers in Congo, with Belgium urging the bloc send a bridging mission and Britain wanting it to bolster U.N. troops.
Last Friday, United Nation's Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon repeated a call for a EU "bridging force," saying it may take up to six months for the U.N. to deploy 3,000 more peacekeepers to Congo to boost its 17,000-strong force, known as MONUC.
The foreign ministers took no decision at a meeting in Brussels on Monday and tasked EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and the European Commission to prepare a response to Ban's letter, an EU official said.
The idea of an EU mission has been in the air for a few weeks but the bloc has so far been reluctant to commit troops, and prospects appeared to dim after Belgium said last week there was little appetite for such a mission.
Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht said before the discussions there was an urgent need for bridging mission of 2,500-3,000 troops.
"It will take four to six months before the additional troops for MONUC will arrive and the humanitarian situation is dramatic over there," De Gucht told reporters.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband told reporters beefing up the U.N. peacekeeping force was the priority.
"Our position has always been that there is a ... a U.N. commitment to increase the size of the MONUC force, so the first port of call is for countries to see whether they can add, either at a planning or operational level to that MONUC force," said Miliband.
Some 250,000 people have been displaced by the violence in Congo, in which forces of renegade Congolese Tutsi Gen. Laurent Nkunda has been battling pro-government militias.
Two EU "battle groups" are on standby for missions at any given time. One of those on standby until the year-end is British, while the other is led by Germany with contributions from France, Spain, Belgium and Luxembourg.
"EUROPE SHOULD BE EFFECTVE"
From January 1, Italy will head one standby battle group with forces from Spain, Portugal and Greece, and Greece the other, with troops from Bulgaria, Cyprus and Romania.
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said it was premature to say if his country would be ready to send troops in a battle group but added that some countries would call for such a deployment and he was willing to discuss it.
"One point is very clear, Europe should be effective. We cannot stay as inactive as we are now," he told reporters.
The EU's Solana said ministers would discuss Ban's call, but added: "Let me also underline that the situation on the ground is getting slightly better, and politically also."
The U.N. says fighting in Congo has triggered a humanitarian catastrophe and aid groups have criticised the EU's failure to respond with troops.
"We have had a month of every possible excuse as to why Europe will not send forces to bolster U.N. peacekeepers," said Elise Ford, Head of Office at Oxfam International in Brussels.
"Without an adequate professional force supporting U.N. peacekeepers to provide a measure of security for the population, the killing, raping and looting will continue unabated. We cannot stand by and watch."
Congo's 1998-2003 war sucked in six neighbouring armies and caused more than 5 million deaths. EU soldiers intervened in the country in 2003 to halt militia violence that grew out of the broader war and to protect 2006 elections that returned President Joseph Kabila to office.
(Writing by Ingrid Melander and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Sophie Hares)
