New Delhi: India will send infantry battalions for UN peace maintenance operations in the Oil Abyei region in Africa, which warns north and south and contested well by both.
Indian infantry groups with around 570 troops will be deployed under the United Nations Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), which is assigned to monitor volatile borders between North and South and facilitate humanitarian aid.
Unica is also authorized to use strength in protecting civilians and humanitarian workers in Abyei.
With 5,300 soldiers are currently deployed in eight of the 12 ongoing missions around the world, the Indian Army is the third largest contributor to the world for peacekeepers after Bangladesh and Nepal.
The decision to send other infantry battalions in the midst of a two-year term of taking place in India as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council since January last year.
It is eight times India sitting at the famous Horseshoe table in 15 members of the Unsc.
A strong 13-lakh Indian army has contributed more than 2.58 lakh troops in 51 of the 71 UN missions since the first for Korea in 1953-54, with 159 Indian soldiers also put their lives in surgery.
Placement ranges from Yemen, Namibia, Mozambique, Angola, Ethiopia-Eritrea to Cambodia, Somalia, Rwanda, Lebanon, Congo and Sudan.
But this hasn’t produced anything until now in terms of India’s joint efforts to look for permanent seats with veto power at UNSC.
Only last month, Indian envoys for the United Nations, T S s Siringu, re-underlined the Indian case for permanent remaining membership.
“India will continue to encourage UNSC reform.
Apart from our performance at the United Nations and other factors, the Participation of the Army in various peacekeepers has ensured stability in various parts of the world.
The contribution of the big forces is indeed strengthening Indian claims for unsafe chairs permanently,” said a senior official.
The Placement of the United Nations also get goodwill for India, especially in places like Africa rich in minerals, where the new “game” is now being played with China making a strategic big breakthrough to the continent.
Apart from “international exposure”, the UN task also provides Indian Batalmions which is needed to be deployed along the long “active” border with Pakistan and China as well as endless counter-rebellion operations in J & K and the Northeast.
In addition, the UN allowance is decent in the dollar given to the soldiers, above and above the salary of their Indian rupees, also more than accepted.
India to send battalions for peacekeepers in Africa
