Dutchman Scheffer to stay on as NATO chief

BRUSSELS, Jan 10 (Reuters) Dutch diplomat Jaap de Hoop Scheffer today agreed to a two-year extension of his term as NATO secretary-general into 2009, an alliance official said.

The official said de Hoop Scheffer, who began his term in 2004, would stay on to prepare and preside over a series of high-profile events due to mark the 60th anniversary of the Western military alliance in 2009.

''He accepted today,'' said the official, adding that the exact run-down of the anniversary events -- and therefore de Hoop Scheffer's new departure date -- had not yet been fixed. He had been due to leave around the end of this year.

Scheffer, 58, has sought to pursue transformation of the 26-nation alliance that was the Cold War role guarantor of Europe's security into a body able to launch operations worldwide at short notice.

He oversaw the deployment of NATO troops into southern Afghanistan last year in what has become the toughest ground war experienced by the alliance in its history.

REUTERS KD HS1939