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By APD Writer Easwaran
Sri Lanka deployed 243 Army personnel of the Combat Convoy Company (CCC) of the Army to serve in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), the Army media unit said onWednesday.
Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva, Commander of the Army was at the airport to see them off together with a few senior officers. With this contingent, the Sri Lankan CCC, comprised of 20 Officers and 223 Other Ranks, representing 13 Regiments of the Army completed the dispatch to the landlocked West African country.
The first group of 43 peacekeepers left on 12 November before the remainder of 200 personnel departed on Tuesday evening. Similarly, CCC 196 troops (Phase I) already serving Mali will return home on Thursday (14), the Army said.
In September the United Nations said it will repatriate Sri Lankan peacekeepers after a decision was taken to suspend future Sri Lankan Army deployments.
The ban was imposed as a result of President Maithripala Sirisena’s decision to appoint Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva to the position of Commander of the Sri Lanka Army.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
