By Claudia Parsons

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 21 (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council renewed the mandate of a peacekeeping force in Congo on Friday, urging it to protect civilians and prevent widespread sexual violence.

The U.N. force in Congo, known as MONUC, has around 17,000 troops and 1,000 police officers in the country trying to help restore peace and stability after the 1998-2003 war.

Despite stability in parts of the country and national elections last year, persistent fighting in the east of Congo remains a problem.

Several mediation efforts and military campaigns have failed to end conflict in eastern Congo, where the presence of Rwandan Hutu fighters accused of leading their country's 1994 genocide has long undermined stability.

Recent fighting drove tens of thousands of people from their homes, adding to an estimated 800,000 displaced people in North Kivu province, over half of whom fled this year alone.

The Security Council voted unanimously to renew MONUC's mandate until the end of 2008 and called on peacekeepers to do more to combat rampant sexual violence and protect victims. It suggested training Congolese security forces as one way to achieve this.

A U.N. human rights investigator said earlier this year extreme sexual violence against women was pervasive in Congo and local authorities did little to stop it.

Yakin Erturk, special rapporteur for the U.N. Human Rights Council on violence against women, blamed the Congolese army, police, armed militias and increasingly civilians for rampant rape and brutality against women and girls.

The Security Council resolution urged the government to bring those responsible to justice. It also called for legal steps against those who recruited child soldiers.

The Congolese government has called a peace summit for Dec. 27 to try to end fighting in its North Kivu province.

A Congolese army offensive wrested several strategic localities from renegade Tutsi militia leader Laurent Nkunda's forces in early December, only for the dissidents to win them back in a counter-attack. (Editing by Alan Elsner)

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