The German cabinet approved yesterday the deployment of nearly 800 troops to join a European Union mission to Congo to support United Nations peacekeepers during elections there.

The 500 soldiers plus 280 medical and logistics experts will be deployed by July 30, the day the elections are due to start, and will remain for four months, according to Franz Josef Jung, defence minister. The EU force, comprising 1,700 troops in total, would include contributions from 18 EU member states, he said.