AMSTERDAM, Feb 29 (Reuters) - The Netherlands will send around 60 troops to join a European Union security force deploying in eastern Chad and the Central African Republic, the Dutch Foreign and Defence Ministries said on Friday.

The deployment will begin mid-April and will last about a year, the ministries said in a joint statement. Another five soldiers will be stationed in headquarters in Paris and the eastern Chadian town of Abeche.

"Through its participation in the EU operations in Chad and the Central African Republic, the Netherlands also wishes to improve the extension of humanitarian help, reconstruction and development," the ministries said.

The Dutch soldiers will join an Irish battalion, the ministries said.

The European Union force (EUFOR) has a U.N. mandate to provide security for refugee camps sheltering more than 400,000 people in the eastern borderlands of Chad.

Several EU nations are contributing to the force, whose total strength will be about 3,700, but more than half will come from France, which has troops and planes in its former colony under a military cooperation treaty. (Reporting by Catherine Hornby; Editing by Jon Boyle)

AlertNet news is provided by