Cambodia ships gear to Sudan ahead of peackeeping team
Feb 18, 2006 (PHNOM PENH) — Cambodia on Saturday shipped mine detectors and other equipment to the war-torn African nation of Sudan, where Cambodian soldiers will join a U.N. peacekeeping mission, an official said.
A ship carrying 25 trucks and vehicles, 70 mine detectors and other equipment left Cambodia’s Sihanoukville port Saturday morning and was expected to arrive in Sudan in three weeks, said Maj. Gen. Sem Sovanny, deputy commander of Cambodian army’s engineering corps.
A team of 135 Cambodian soldiers is expected to be in Sudan by mid-April, marking the first time the Southeast Asian nation will join an international U.N. peacekeeping mission.
An advance team of 10 officers was expected to leave for Sudan later this month, said Sem Sovanny.
In Sudan, the Cambodian troops will focus on mine-clearing missions.
“Our soldiers are very pleased to accept this prestigious mission,” Sem Sovanny said by telephone from Sihanoukville.
In 1992 and 1993, Cambodia hosted what was then the United Nations’ biggest ever peacekeeping operation, costing more than US$1.5 billion (A1.26 billion) and involving 16,000 troops and security personnel from almost three dozen countries. The operation, established by a 1991 pact ending a lengthy civil war, led to free elections in 1993.
(AP/ST)