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Poland to deploy more troops to Chad

WARSAW, Poland, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- Poland's Defense Ministry said it will dispatch two military helicopters and 400 troops to join EU peacekeepers in Chad.

Magdalena Czerwinska, spokeswoman for the Defense Ministry, said the new Polish government of liberal, pro-EU Prime Minister Donald Tusk decided to send an additional 50 soldiers to the original contingent of 350 troops to be deployed to Chad by midyear, Polish Radio reported Monday.

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The Polish mission to Chad would cost about $41 million a year.

Czerwinska said the first Polish troops are to arrive to the central-north African country at the end of March and the contingent should be fully operational in June, when it should begin patrolling and protecting international relief convoys.

Tusk plans to withdraw Poland's 900 troops from Iraq by October but will maintain 1,200 soldiers in Afghanistan.

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