In February 2006, following an appeal by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the United Nations Security Council agreed to strengthen the ONUCI forces by sending a battalion from United Nations Mission in Liberia with 800-soldiers to Ivory Coast. As of November 2006, the mission consisted of about 8,000 uniformed soldiers from a total of 41 countries. They have included, from the Bangladeshi Army, 56th and 57th Battalions, East Bengal Regiment. They were deployed alongside 4,000 French soldiers of the Operation Licorne intervention.