ineffective in keeping civilians safe from the rebel and government forces. This was hoped to be improved by deploying reinforcements consisting of 3,000 peacekeepers. The government's forces were criticized as well, with UN forces being stated to be protecting civilians from both rebels and Congolese troops. The soldiers were stated to be raping, looting, and were poorly fed, trained, paid and medicated; 11 soldiers were sentenced to life in prison for raping and looting while retreating from rebel forces. Another 12 faced court martial, with one allegedly having killed a family of 6 in Goma. They also were said to distrust armed forces commander, General Gabriel Amisi, due to his alliance with Nkunda during a 1998–2003 conflict. On December 7, UN officials claimed that the $7.1 billion budget (USD) for peacekeeping troops was insufficient even before planned reinforcements of MONUC could be fulfilled; even the troop and equipment requirements may not be met, as Western countries declined support, citing the conflict not as "strategically vital" as those in Iraq and Afghanistan. International Crisis Group vice-president Fabienne Hara stated that, "Contributions of U.N. members states will probably not grow at the very least, if not diminish... [some missions] may not be funded properly due to a crisis in terms of resources." An anonymous UN official claimed that the Security Council could "drop the ball, move on to another issue and we're the ones at fault. We've seen before that is a recipe for failure." Reuters reported that a senior Western Security Council diplomat claimed that, while criticism was not invalid, other countries with reserves of troops should aid failing peacekeeping missions. The official stated that "We're not the only ones who can do this. Where are the Russians, the Ukrainians? Where are the developing countries who want to have seats on the Security Council? Where is Brazil? It doesn't always have to be us." The lack of peacekeeping resources was cited as counterproductive by political analyst Max Bergmann of the National Security Network. "UN forces ... do fail, but this is often the result of either too few troops or too little money. Our reliance on the United Nations to address trouble spots and to prevent them from worsening has only increased. Shorting the U.N. on peacekeeping funding is therefore akin to shooting ourselves in the foot." European Union nations declined to intervene. The UN's foremost peacekeeping official, Under-Secretary General for