UNITED NATIONS — Chad’s government succeeded Tuesday in forcing a 3,300-strong U.N. peacekeeping force operating in Chad and the Central African Republic to pull out by the end of this year.

And with the U.N. Security Council’s unanimous vote to disband the peacekeeping force known as MINURCAT, another troubled African nation concerned with looming elections and 50-year independence celebrations has dealt a setback to U.N. peacekeeping.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo, too, has told the United Nations to pack up its peacekeeping operations ahead of independence celebrations and elections scheduled for next year.

The vote by the U.N.’s most powerful arm all but confirms the view advanced by Chadian President Idriss Deby, who has called the force “a failure” — and in February insisted his country did not want to renew the peacekeeping force’s mandate — because it hadn’t improved conditions along the border.

But after discussions with U.N. officials, his government agreed to a phased withdrawal that largely follows U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s recommendation.

“We trust that the government of Chad will do its utmost to fulfill its responsibilities and use all available capabilities for the protection of the population in eastern Chad,” said Austrian Ambassador Thomas Mayr-Harting, the only diplomat to speak after the council’s show of hands.

Though it agreed to the resolution, he said, Austria “would have preferred a more gradual approach in the drawdown” of forces and a continued U.N. role in protecting civilians.

The council’s resolution dutifully follows Ban’s recommended timetable for Chad, a nation twice the size of France. The first military personnel, Ban said, are to begin pulling out Thursday.

Ban’s plan provides for a gradual withdrawal of the 2 1/2-year-old peacekeeping force near the border with Sudan’s volatile Darfur region.

The Security Council authorized cutting the force by July 15 down to 2,200 soldiers — 1,900 in Chad, 300 in the Central African Republic — and 25 liaison officers. They are to be accompanied by no more than 300 police.

Final withdrawal of the remaining troops is to begin on October 15. Nearly all uniformed and civilian U.N. personnel are to be gone by December 31. Only “those required for the mission’s liquidation” may remain past then, the resolution says.

In February, Human Rights Watch had warned the council that withdrawing U.N. peacekeepers would expose civilians to more violence and abuses. The advocacy group says Chadian forces have failed to provide security in the past and the situation remains volatile.

Ban sought to put a positive spin on it Tuesday, saying he welcomed the council’s action as it “will allow the civilian component of the mission to work with the government to consolidate gains achieved so far and help it to develop plans for their sustainability” once all the peacekeepers depart.

Ban also noted that Chad “assumes full responsibility for the protection of civilians” as U.N. forces begin withdrawing later this week.

Chad, like many of the countries that gained independence 50 years ago, remains troubled today, the violence in eastern Chad a result of clashes between military forces and rebel opposition groups mixed with hundreds of thousands of Sudanese and Central African refugees.

Civil war broke out in the country just five years after the nation won independence Aug. 11, 1960. Last year, the European Union’s peacekeeping mission transferred its authority to the U.N. mission.

But looking forward, Deby’s government has its 50-year celebration in August and parliamentary elections scheduled for November. Chad has been struggling to overcome its poverty, and built a multibillion-dollar oil pipeline under a World Bank-supported program. But mismanagement and corruption remain endemic.

South Korean artillery soldiers take positions during an exercise against possible North Korean attacks in Paju, near the demilitarized zone Tuesday. Photo by The Associated Press

Lee Jin-man