UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon asked the U.N. Security Council on Monday to send 5,500 more peacekeepers to South Sudan as soon as possible to protect civilians from worsening violence that threatens to plunge Africa's youngest country into civil war.
Ban made the recommendation for the two-thirds increase in the size of the force in a letter to the 15-member council, in which he also called for 423 more police officers. Currently some 6,700 U.N. troops and 670 police officers make up the U.N. force in South Sudan, which is known as UNMISS.