The head of the UN military operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo has criticised the conduct of government forces, saying order needs to be restored and they should stop unjustified retreats.

N'DJAMENA, Oct 14, 2007 (AFP) - Factional violence has killed some 20 people since Friday in Chad in the far east of the country near the Sudanese border, Chadian government sources said Sunday.

After 'native and non-native' skirmishes along the border, 'governmental forces intervened and the situation is more or less calm,' a Chadian government official requesting anonymity told AFP.

WASHINGTON, Oct 10, 2007 (AFP) - US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has given the US Army the go-ahead to grow by 65,000 troops two years sooner than planned to ease stress on the force, senior Pentagon officials said Wednesday.

The army intends to meet the new goal mainly by retaining more troops rather than by trying to recruit more, they said.

WASHINGTON, Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) - The US Army will need three or four years to recover from the strains of repeated deployments to Iraq even with a planned drawdown of US forces next year, the service's chief said Monday.

General George Casey said the army is 'out of balance' after six years of warfare in Afghanistan and Iraq, and facing unpredictable demands in an era of 'persistent conflict.'

ISLAMABAD, Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) - Pakistan's former spymaster took over as the vice chief of army staff on Monday, setting him up to succeed President Pervez Musharraf as leader of the army in coming weeks, officials said.

General Ashfaq Kiyani, the ex-head of Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, received a guard of honour at army headquarters in Rawalpindi as he arrived to take up the new position, a military statement said.

'Vice Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kiyani assumed the charge of office today,' the statement said.

BEIRUT, Oct 6, 2007 (AFP) - Lebanon's army commander, General Michel Suleiman, led a tribute on Saturday to the 167 soldiers who died in this summer's siege of Islamist militants holed up in a Palestinian refugee camp.

'September 2 is an honourable date in the history of the nation,' he said of the day the siege of Nahr al-Bared camp ended with the defeat of fighters from Fatah al-Islam, a group he called the 'most important terrorist organisation' ever known in Lebanon.

PRAGUE, Oct 1, 2007 (AFP) - Two Czech soldiers face criminal charges for not performing their guard duties properly at the Basra base in southern Iraq, Czech media reported on Monday.

One of the soldiers allowed a vehicle into the base without checking it, the other left his post ride a borrowed motorcycle with some local people, Czech public television reported.

BANGKOK, Oct 1, 2007 (AFP) - Thailand's General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, who led last year's coup, has stepped down as head of the nation's junta, paving the way for him to join the cabinet, a spokesman said Monday.

'His resignation took effect on September 30,' said junta spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd.

'Sonthi said he has completed his mission as the head of the Council for National Security (CNS),' the spokesman said, using the junta's formal name.

Air Chief Marshal Chalit Pukbhasuk, head of the air force, took the helm of the junta on Monday, Sansern said.

BANGKOK, Oct 1, 2007 (AFP) - Thailand's General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, who led last year's coup, has stepped down as head of the nation's junta, paving the way for him to join the cabinet, a spokesman said Monday.

'His resignation took effect on September 30,' said junta spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd.

Air Chief Marshal Chalit Pukbhasuk, commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Air Force, will take the helm of the junta, Sansern said.

ISTANBUL, Oct 1, 2007 (AFP) - The Turkish military said Monday it would oppose any attempt to alter the country's secular system and warned that neighbouring Iraq is heading for disintegration, threatening Turkey's security.

'No power can transform Turkey from the republic founded by Ataturk into something else, no one can change the republic's secular structure,' Chief of General Staff General Yasar Buyukanit said, referring to modern Turkey's founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.