EU maintains policy to withdraw troops from Congo

The European Union plans to pull its peacekeepers out of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on schedule, despite heightened tension over the upcoming results of key elections, senior officials said today.

"There is no reason for a prolongation," German defence minister Franz Josef Jung said in Brussels, Belgium.

"Our contribution is securing elections, that we have assured. Therefore, I believe that we can finish our mission in time and also successfully."

Germany commands the 1,200-strong EU force supporting UN peacekeepers in Kinshasa and has about 780 troops engaged in the mission.

Berlin has insisted its troops will pull out on time despite the risk of renewed violence if supporters of either presidential candidate contests the election results.

Four people were killed in clashes in the Congolese capital over the weekend between supporters of President Joseph Kabila and his rival, former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba, who fought a run-off presidential election late last month. The shootout increased fears that the announcement of final results in the election could spark wider violence.

International aid charity Oxfam appealed for the EU to keep its troops in the country until at least February.

"The job is not yet finished and a clear commitment from the EU to extend EUFOR is needed," Oxfam's Juliette Prodhan said in a statement. "The international community has a responsibility to ensure that the elections are seen through to a peaceful end."

However, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana agreed with the Germans that the European troops should be able to leave on time.

"I think we will be able to have the withdrawal of the troops according to the schedule," he told reporters.

Solana said recent conversations with both candidates convinced him "things are going more in the right direction".

Arriving for a meeting of EU foreign and defense ministers, Solana said he expected the full results would be announced in Kinshasa tomorrow. Partial results give Kabila a big overall lead, but Bemba is seen doing well in the capital.

With most of the 16,000 UN peacekeepers in Congo stationed in the volatile east, the EU troops have played a prominent security rule in Kinshasa during the elections.