CAIRO: Egypt announced on Tuesday that it plans to send troops and police to join the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Egypt will send 1,325 soldiers and a police unit to reinforce the UN force, foreign ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said in a statement.

The country s participation in the UN operation, known by its French acronym MONUC, is in response to the UN Security Council s resolution 1834 of December 2008 which called on members to help strengthen its force in Congo, he said.

MONUC is the UN s largest current peace mission, comprising 17,000 soldiers, of whom about 5,000 are in the eastern province of Nord-Kivu.

The UN operation reaffirmed in January that it is authorized to open fire if the civilian population is threatened. -AFP