Bangladesh peackeepers for Sudan
Bangladesh is to send peacekeeping troops to Sudan after an appeal by the United Nations, Foreign Minister Murshid Khan said.
The UN wants to deploy 10,000 troops to the African country to monitor a peace agreement signed in January 2005 between the Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement.
Bangladesh, one of the leading contributors of peacekeepers, currently has 7942 troops with UN missions across the world, officials said.
They said about 1600 Bangladeshi soldiers were expected to be deployed to Sudan and a Bangladeshi officer would command the UN peacekeepers.
An estimated 70,000 people have died in the last two years in Sudan – mostly in Darfur – with another 1.65 million displaced internally.
“Bangladesh is always ready to send troops anywhere in the world under the UN mandate,” Foreign Minister Khan said.