EU peacekeeping handover in Chad

Some 2,000 Eufor troops will stay behind until UN reinforcements arrive

European peacekeepers in Chad have handed over their operations to a United Nations force at a ceremony in the eastern town of Abeche.

For the past year, over 3,000 Eufor troops have helped protect refugees from Darfur and those displaced by other conflicts in the region.

But just over half the 5,000 UN troops requested are ready for deployment.

Almost 500,000 people are living in camps in eastern Chad and the north-east of the Central African Republic.

The BBC's Celeste Hicks in Abeche says there are signs Eufor patrols around the displaced persons' camps have helped to deter attacks on refugees, who come into conflict with locals over scarce resources like firewood.

But our correspondent says over the last year the threat has begun to change with the UN recording more than 150 criminal attacks in 2008 on international aid workers, including three killings and numerous car-jackings.