The U.N. peacekeeping chief says that he would not ask Japan to send troops to front-line missions and needs more logistic support in Africa, where most of its personnel are engaged.

Speaking at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, Herve Ladsous, the U.N. undersecretary-general for peacekeeping, said Friday that about 90 percent of its peacekeepers are deployed in Africa "in a sort of wide arc of crises that stretches from the Atlantic Ocean right over the Indian Ocean."

Calling its missions in Africa "multidisciplinary," Ladsous said the U.N. peacekeepers need to address a wide range of issues in situations where the security and stability are challenged by "nonstate actors," such as terrorists, extremists, jihadis and "transnationals with connections including to the Islamic State, certainly to al-Qaida."