Germany's cabinet on Wednesday approved a proposal to send almost 800 soldiers to the Democratic Republic of Congo this summer to help keep the peace during elections currently scheduled for July 30. The Bundeswehr troops will be the largest contingent in the European Union mission to the African nation being sent to support the some 17,000 United Nations troops already there.

"We are interested in Congo moving toward a peaceful and democratic development," German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung said on Wednesday.

The total number of German soldiers headed for Congo has been set at 780, with 280 of those designated for medical and logistical backup. Joining them will be some 500 French soldiers and troops from another 16 of the 25 EU countries for a total EU force of about 1,500 soldiers. According to Jung, the mission will last four months and will begin on Congo's election day. While the exact mission of the deployment is still being worked out, the initial plan calls for Germany to be based in the Congolese capital of Kinshasa with responsibility for securing the airport and for managing evacuations should they become necessary. The French troops will be responsible for areas outside Kinshasa. The mission still must be approved by Germany's lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, with a vote currently scheduled for June 1. With Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition controlling a vast majority of seats in the parliament, the vote is seen as a mere formality.

The summer presidential and parliamentary election will be the first in Congo in 40 years, but it has been repeatedly delayed due to logistical difficulties. Despite the hiccups -- and the years of violence in the eastern part of the country which has killed up to 3 million people since 1998 according to Global Security -- campaigning has begun  and the country's current leader Joseph Kabila is widely expected to beat out the other 31 candidates for the presidency.

In Germany, however, some are unhappy about the decision to support the Congo elections . Wolfgang Gerhardt, a senior member of the opposition Free Democrats, called the deployment "one of the worst prepared missions politically that we have ever seen. The time frame that will be needed absolutely cannot be predicted," he said in an interview on German public television station ARD. "The number of soldiers being deployed is probably far too small. After four months, no one will have a guarantee that all the losers will accept the election result."

Even within Congo, criticism of the EU is growing -- with opposition parties spreading rumors that the Europeans want to establish a foothold in the Central African country, according to Agence France Presse. So far, very few European military or political leaders have visited the country to prepare the mission. "It is very important that the EU makes it clear to the Congolese why they are coming," Albrecht Conze, a political representative of the United Nations mission, told AFP. "There are rumors in (Kinshasa) that the EU will only protect Europeans in case of violence or that they are coming to support a specific candidate."