He told reporters Wednesday that the deployment and reinforcement of MONUC troops in Ituri, was meant, in this uncertain situation, to help implement interim local and administrative institutions.

"The solution to this war does not call for UN soldiers joining in to fight. That will only increase the death toll," he said.

Diallo cited how Uganda, which earlier deployed 7,000 soldiers in eastern DR Congo, failed to prevent massacres in Ituri.

"We should be realistic," he noted.

The special envoy of the UN secretary general to DR Congo, Amos Namanga Ngongi lamented the worrisome situation in Bunia (northeast DRC), saying: "Every single day is a lost day for peace".

MONUC had carried out its traditional mandate of protecting civilians, but had no means to prevent massacres, he pointed out.

More than 7,000 people are under UN protection in Bunia where MONUC, UNICEF and the UN humanitarian co-ordination office are expected to distribute food ration to war displaced people, according to UN sources.

MONUC, with a mandate to support the peace process in DRC, currently has 4,600 military observers on the ground, while more than 8,000 others are planned by the UN Security Council to provide security for officials in the transition government.

As the district of Ituri is larger than Bosnia and Kosovo where the UN formerly deployed over 15,000 peacekeepers, or even Sierra Leone there are 17,000 UN soldiers, political observers here describe the less deployment in DRC as "double standard" by the UN.

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