Egypt plans to send more than 1,325 troops to eastern DRC Congo to join a UN peacekeeping force tasked with protecting civilians there, the Egyptian foreign ministry said on Feb. 17. The troops would help strengthen UN peacekeeping operations in line with a Security Council decision in November to send 3,000 extra peacekeepers to help protect civilians and to end conflict in the turbulent east. The mission in the DRC is the world's biggest UN peacekeeping operation and will be increased temporarily to just over 20,000 troops and police once the reinforcements are deployed. (Reuters)