CHAD: UN Secretary-General calls to double troop numbers

GOZ BEIDA Monday, November 17, 2008 (IRIN) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is calling for a doubling of international troops deployed to eastern Chad. UN peacekeepers, expected to replace the European Union force (EUFOR) due to leave in March 2009, would have a similar mandate of protecting displaced civilians and aid workers in the increasingly volatile region. Humanitarian agencies have been forced to suspend some of their operations in eastern Chad over the last few months after violent...