India Will Deploy All-Women Peacekeepers Platoon To UN Mission In Sudan
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Raven Ruma
- . January 6, 2023
- . Update: January 6, 2023 7:51 pm
India is set to deploy a platoon of All-Women Peacekeepers in the Abyei region in Sudan on 6 January as part of the Indian Battalion in the United Nations Interim Security Force (UNISFA), according to the Indian government.
A statement from India’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations (UN) said that the contingent would consist of two officers and 25 soldiers of various ranks. The officers would be performing extensive security-related tasks.
Reportedly, their presence will be especially welcome in Abyei as the region has been suffering due to challenging humanitarian concerns for women and children and rising violence.
In the press release, India’s Permanent Mission to the UN said this would be the largest single unit of women Peacekeepers to a UN mission since the first-ever all-women’s contingent in Liberia in 2007. Ruchira Khamboj, India’s permanent representative to the UN in New York, appreciated the deployment of peacekeepers in Sudan.
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In 2007, India created history by becoming the first country to deploy an all-women contingent to a UN peacekeeping mission.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) responded to the urgent humanitarian situation in Sudan’s Abyei region by establishing the UNISFA in order to mitigate tensions and violence. The peacekeepers would monitor the Sudan-South Sudan border and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid in order to protect civilians and humanitarian workers in the Abyei region.
Recently, the Sudanese government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) reached an agreement in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to establish peace in the Abyei region and let Ethiopian troops monitor the area for the safety of the people. Subsequently, UNISFA was established by the UN.
Over 200,000 Indians have served in 49 UN peacekeeping missions across the world since 1948. India has a history of sending women on UN peacekeeping missions.
