Zambia sends 55 peacekeepers to Sudan

Dec 16, 2005 (LUSAKA) — The Zambian army has sent off a contingent of 55 transport soldiers Friday to Sudan as part of the United Nations peacekeeping mission, local TV news reported.

Transport Director Col. Davy Lwendo reminded the soldiers that they were to work under averse conditions and they should not be deterred from carrying out their duties with dignity.

The 55 soldiers are the first Zambia Army transport team to be deployed in international operations under the auspices of the UN. This follows the dispatch of a team of 290 soldiers to the country in mid-September also as peacekeepers there.

Zambia has been an active participant in UN peacekeeping missions. It has participated in peacekeeping missions in Mozambique, Rwanda, Angola and Sierra Leone as well as Sudan where a peacekeeping force was deployed to monitor the January peace accord after the UN Security Council passed a resolution on March 24 this year.

The war between the southern-based Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army and the Sudanese government erupted in 1983 when rebels took up arms against the Khartoum government to demand greater autonomy.

The fighting killed at least 2 million people, mostly through war-induced famine, uprooted 4 million more and forced some 550,000 to flee to neighboring countries.

(Xinhua)