U.N. peacekeepers pressed to do more with less as further cuts loom

FILE PHOTO: Indian soldiers, serving in the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo (MONUSCO), hold up their weapons at their base after patrolling the villages in Masisi, 88 km (55 miles) northwest of Goma, Congo on October 4, 2013. REUTERS/Kenny Katombe/File Photo

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.