The U.N. peacekeeping chief says 90 of his colleagues have been killed this year, with 29 of them in "deliberate attacks."

Herve Ladsous notes in particular the deaths of 14 peacekeepers in the bloody Darfur region of Sudan. He calls that "totally unacceptable."

Ladsous gave his end-of-year briefing to reporters Friday.

He also repeated that his department is preparing for the possibility of contributing to the "stabilization in Syria" if U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon requests it.

That will depend on the outcome of Geneva peace talks in January. The talks aim to end the fighting that activists say has killed over 120,000 people in three years.

Ladsous also is telling northern countries they are "very welcome" to contribute to peacekeeping as they disengage from the war in Afghanistan.