By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved on Thursday the creation of a 12,600-strong peacekeeping force in Mali starting July 1, which will be supported by French troops if needed to combat Islamist extremist threats in the West African country. France, aided by some 2,000 troops from Chad, began a military offensive in January to drive out Islamist fighters, who had hijacked a revolt by Mali's Tuareg rebels and seized two-thirds of Mali.

President Jacob Zuma on Wednesday extended the deployment of 1,345 troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo where South Africa will form part of a first-ever offensive United Nations peacekeeping brigade. The fresh deployment comes after Zuma faced public anger over the dispatch of troops to the Central African Republic, where rebel clashes killed 13 soldiers last month. The deaths were South Africa's heaviest military loss since apartheid and mired in claims of dodgy deals with ousted president Francois Bozize. Zuma later pulled all troops out of the country.

Ten Bangladeshi police officers have got the formal approval from the UN to join its peacekeeping mission in Liberia, belying the rumour that Bangladeshi police will not be recruited to UN mission.Some of the 10 officers have already joined while the rest will do by April 30, said a release issued by Permanent Mission of Bangladesh to the United Nations on Thursday.Commenting on the approval, Permanent Representative of the Bangladesh Mission in the UN Dr AK Abdul Momen said, “It doesn’t matter what they (who are spreading propaganda) say.

The M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday warned that they would retaliate if attacked by the peacekeeping brigade that the UN has recently approved to deploy to the country's restive northeast to disarm insurgents. "We, as M23, do not have the right to attack the UN contingent," spokesman Vianney Kazarama told AFP. "But if they attack us, we have the right to react, to retaliate... to defend ourselves."