Over 400 peacekeepers leave for Mali, S Sudan
HUNDREDS gathered at Phnom Penh’s Pochentong military air base on Thursday morning to send off a new cohort of peacekeepers to Africa.
Among the 428 blue helmets are doctors, deminers and drivers bound for Mali and South Sudan on Friday.
Cambodia currently has 813 troops in war-torn countries. Since 2006, a total of 5,257 peacekeepers have served, but not all have returned alive.
After an attack in Central African Republic that saw four Cambodian peacekeepers killed, Prime Minister Hun Sen doubled down on the Kingdom’s commitment of troops, vowing to increase numbers.
As the wet morning gave way to sun, Royal Cambodian Armed Forces Commanderin-Chief Pol Saroeun took the opportunity to lambast the so- called “colour revolution”, the purported threat of which the government has repeatedly cited to justify its crackdown on its viable political competition.
“For the sake of firmly protecting peace and protecting the cornerstones of national security, political stability and prosperity of the Cambodian society, [the] nation has implemented the legal measure firmly and strictly, and successfully prevented colour revolution tricks of the former opposition party that attempted to topple the legitimate government,” Saroeun said.
UN representative Alexandre Huynh, on the other hand, chose to praise the 24 women in the crowd preparing to ship off as peacekeepers.
“Military service requires courage from all, but it takes special courage to break gender barriers and pursue careers in a maledominated field,” he said.