UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has formally proposed sending an 11,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission to Chad to protect civilians.
He also proposes a small force for the neighbor to the south, the Central Africa Republic.
Clashes between government and Sudan-based rebel forces, forays by Sudan-based militia and ethnic violence put the nation's east on the brink of major turmoil.
"Eastern Chad is facing a multifaceted security and humanitarian crisis," Ban said Friday in his latest report to the Security Council.
The threat "includes ongoing clashes between government forces and Sudan-based Chadian rebels, cross-border attacks on civilians by Sudan-based militia, the presence of Sudanese rebels on Chadian territory, ethnic violence, internal displacement, inter-communal tensions and banditry," he said in the formal report
"The result is an environment of uncertainty, vulnerability and victimization of the local communities and the 232,000 Sudanese refugees in the region, and, above all, of the 120,000 internally displaced persons in eastern Chad," Ban said.
He also proposes "a modest deployment "of U.N. military and police personnel in north-eastern Central African Republic, which is also suffering in part from a spill-over of the war in Sudan's Darfur region but where the situation is less acute after a government-rebel accord to negotiate an end to their conflict.
However, there is continued risk the violence may erupt again.
Ban's report stems from a technical assessment mission which visited both countries at the council's request and found that armed rebel movements seeking to overthrow the government continue to destabilize eastern Chad.
