The UN peacekeeping head hailed the deployment of India’s biggest force of female soldiers in Abyei on Monday, adding that female troops imply more efficient operations.
“Delighted to see the biggest contingent of women peacekeepers from #India arrive in #Abyei where they will be #ServingForPeace with @UNISFA 1,” UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix tweeted.
The women peacekeepers, India’s largest all-women battalion in recent years, arrived in Abyei on Saturday to join the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA). Abyei is a disputed border zone between South Sudan and Sudan that has been granted “special administrative status.”
“UNISFA is delighted to welcome the deployment of India’s biggest all-women peacekeeping unit in recent years. They will be serving with @IndBatt in #Abyei @UNISFA 1. The deployment underscores #India’s ongoing commitment to carrying out the UNISFA mandate @UNPeacekeeping “In a tweet on Monday, the mission stated.
The platoon, which consists of two officers and 25 lower ranks, is an engagement platoon that specializes in community outreach. It will also carry out substantial security-related responsibilities.
The unit was initiated into the mission area on January 14, and for the next year, the platoon will work with their counterparts to achieve long-term peace in Abyei.
“Their presence would be especially welcome in Abyei, where a recent surge in violence has prompted a slew of difficult humanitarian issues for women and children in the war zone,” India’s Permanent Mission to the UN stated earlier this month.
The platoon, which is part of the Indian Battalion in UNISFA, has been deployed in Abyei and is India’s largest single unit of women Peacekeepers in a UN Mission since it deployed the first-ever all-force women’s in Liberia in 2007.
The squad received training in all parts of its role as peacekeepers, including patrols, UN operations, community interaction, language, and mission mandate. According to UNISFA, this measure will be “groundbreaking” in terms of gender integration in military peacekeeping.
“Deployment of female peacekeepers has had a positive impact on peacekeeping environments in the past and has increased overall peacekeeping performance,” it said, adding that “female peacekeepers add greater diversity and broaden the skillset” across activities to ensure the peacekeeping mission’s success.