UNITED NATIONS —  A proposed U.N. resolution would increase the 17,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force in conflict-wracked Congo by about 3,100 troops and police, according to the draft obtained Monday.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the top U.N. envoy in Congo, Alan Doss, have been urging the Security Council to beef up its presence in eastern Congo, where clashes between fighters loyal to rebel leader Laurent Nkunda and the Congolese army along with its allied militias have created a humanitarian crisis.

Since fighting erupted in August, at least 250,000 people have been forced to flee their homes and camps where they had previously taken refuge.

Human Rights Watch has criticized the U.N. peacekeeping force _ known by its French acronym MONUC _ for failing to protect civilians in places like Kiwanja, where at least 20 people were killed this week. A top African Union official echoed those comments Friday in Nairobi. Ban has acknowledged that the current force is stretched to the limit.

The draft resolution condemns the resurgence of violence in eastern Congo and demands that all parties "immediately respect a cease-fire."

Members of the 15-nation council and the Congo's U.N. Ambassador Ileka Atoki said last week there was broad agreement to increase the force, known as MONUC. Council diplomats said they expect a quick vote, probably later this week.

Even if the resolution wins quick approval, however, deployment will take months.

The U.N. Peacekeeping Department will first have to ask U.N. member states to provide the soldiers and police, then decide which units to accept, and ensure they are properly equipped to deploy to Congo.

The French-drafted resolution given to the AP would temporarily add 2,785 military personnel and 300 police to MONUC, which is already the largest U.N. peacekeeping mission.

The draft resolution stresses that the temporary increase "aims at enabling MONUC to reinforce its capacity to protect civilians, to restructure its organization, to reconfigure its forces and to optimize their deployment."

The draft expresses strong support for MONUC's efforts to restore peace in North and South Kivu. It also underscores the importance of MONUC implementing its mandate in full, "including through robust rules of engagement."

U.N. officials and diplomats have cautioned that even with 3,000 additional troops and police, MONUC will have great difficulty fulfilling its mandate of protecting civilians because Congo is the size of Western Europe and North Kivu, where the current fighting is centered, is 1 1/2 times the size of France.

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