Ukraine sends peacekeepers to Sudan

Sept 28, 2005 (KIEV)– Ukraine’s President Viktor Yushchenko signed a decree Wednesday to deploy 40 Ukrainian troops to the UN-led peacekeeping mission in Sudan.

In the decree posted on his official Web site, Yushchenko cleared the way for a combined contingent of 40 military and police officers to join 10,700 UN troops deployed earlier this year in Sudan.

Ukrainian peacekeepers will be tasked with monitoring January’s peace accord that ended two decades of civil war between the Muslim Arab-led government and rebels in the mostly Christian and animist south.

Under a new law adopted earlier this month, Ukraine’s parliament will have to ratify Yushchenko’s decree.

The decree didn’t specify when Ukrainian troops will join the UN mission in Sudan, but Yushchenko ordered the Defense Ministry to initiate preparations for the deployment.

Since the Soviet collapse, Ukrainian troops have participated in several UN and North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led peacekeeping missions, including deployments in Kosovo, Bosnia, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Lebanon.

But last month, the UN asked Ukraine to withdraw its peacekeepers from Lebanon amid allegations of financial abuse. Ukraine is pushing for the troops to be allowed to stay, saying those guilty would be punished.

Ukraine has begun the withdrawal of its 1,650-strong contingent from Iraq where it serves as part of the U.S.-led coalition.

(AP/ST)