Congo no go? But a minor go might just, er, grow

Further to this post,

CF for Congo: Pressure builds/Gov't Update

here's hoping:

Canadian deployment to Congo unlikely, observers say

Canada is likely to ignore a request for a major deployment of Canadian soldiers to a peacekeeping mission in the Congo, military observers say.

That’s because of concerns around the United Nations mandate for the operation, the ambivalence of authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo, who have called for foreign troops to leave the country, and the chronic funding and manpower problems the 20,000-soldier mission has experienced since it began in 1999.

“My information tells me that the prime minister is not very keen on contributing troops to a mission in the Congo under the UN,” said Alain Pellerin, a retired Canadian Forces colonel who heads the Conference of Defence Associations, a military advocacy group.

The UN has issued a request for a Canadian general to command the African mission, and the Conservative government is expected to respond to the request any day now.

“Canada is one of the countries asked by the UN secretariat to consider providing a candidate for the position,” Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon told the House of Commons Wednesday. “We are currently considering that request.”

The expectation is that Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie, the outgoing head of the army, would fill that role for Canada.

If Leslie goes, he will likely be accompanied by a contingent of personal staff, bodyguards and a communications team to keep in contact with his military and political masters in Ottawa. But don’t expect a wholesale shift of Canadian soldiers from Afghanistan, where the mission ends in 2011, to the Congo, Pellerin said.

“We’re talking about dozens (of soldiers), not hundreds.”..

Note the story does not rule out Gen. Leslie's appoinment, If he is sent, and if the UN mission is extended beyond next year, I would think there would be a lot of pressure (and temptation in certain quarters) seriously to expand the Canadian troop commitment in 2011.

Update: More:

If Canada’s military is itching for a fight, it won’t be in the Congo

What a stupid, sophomoric, Globeite headline. The whole point of a Congo mission--whatever its eventual size and composition over time--would be a return to UN "peacekeeping" in place of Afghan combat (for which our politicians, most pundits, and much of the people no longer appear to have any stomach).