Britain considers UN call for Congo help

Britain is urgently considering the UN secretary general Kofi Annan's request for a contribution to an armed force of 1,000 for eastern Congo.

France has already offered to contribute, and if Britain agrees to send a token force it will mark a renewal of Anglo-French military cooperation after the fierce diplomatic rows at the UN about the invasion of Iraq.

In her first television interview since her appointment Lady Amos, the new international development secretary, told the BBC's Breakfast with Frost programme: "The UK has made its priorities absolutely clear, which is to work on conflict resolution in Africa, particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo [and] in Sudan, and helping to build the peace in Angola".

She later confirmed that the request was being considered.

The prime minister has in the past identified Congo as one of the great scars on the world's conscience.

But the MoD would not say whether it was willing to send help, and it will not be keen to become involved in another overseas commitment so soon after Iraq stretched its resources to the limit.

Mr Annan has written to all 15 security council members asking them to consider sending troops to eastern Congo, where inter-tribal fighting in and around the town of Bunia has left many dead and caused most of its 300,000 people to flee. He said he believed the situation could worsen, despite a truce.

A small party from France and other countries will visit Bunia today to assess whether French forces can end the violence. The UN contingent there, part of the force sent to Congo to monitor and supervise a ceasefire in the war, does not have the capacity to impose a truce, but is sheltering about 12,000 refugees.

President Joseph Kabila signed a ceasefire agreement with members of five militias in Tanzania on Friday, binding them all to cease hostilities, demilitarise Bunia, and allow an international intervention force to move in. But most previous ceasefires have come and gone with alarming speed.