N'DJAMENA, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Chad will not accept an international military force on its eastern border with Sudan's Darfur region but wants a civil protection force of police and gendarmes, the government said on Wednesday.

"For Chad, it has never been a question of receiving any military force on the eastern border but rather a civil force made up of gendarmes and police officers," Deputy Foreign Minister Djidda Moussa Outman told foreign ambassadors.

Outman spelled out the government's position in a meeting in the capital, N'Djamena, with envoys from the United States, France, Russia and China, all permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last week recommended peacekeeping operations for Chad and neighbouring Central African Republic, which could involve up to 11,000 military personnel and helicopter gunships.

In proposals to the U.N. Security Council, he also suggested deploying 260 U.N. police in 12 refugee camps in eastern Chad in addition to the military mission.

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