JOHANNESBURG/NAIROBI (Reuters) - On June 29, Maman Sidikou, head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo, received a cable from headquarters in New York in which his bosses laid out in no uncertain terms that the world's largest peacekeeping mission had to make cuts, and fast.
Facing an 8 percent, or $93 million (68.7 million pounds), budget cut for 2017/18, Sidikou was told to revise staffing, slash fuel costs by 10 percent and streamline aircraft use - all without compromising the mission's mandate, according to the cable seen by Reuters.