The Egyptian Defense Ministry plans to dispatch Egyptian troops to Central Africa as part of the UN's new mission there and to boost Egyptian contributions to the United Nations peacekeeping missions, especially in Africa.
"The move comes in response to a request from the United Nations," said Assistant Foreign Minister for Multilateral Affairs and International Security Hisham Badr. "Egypt is also consulting with the UN Secretariat, in coordination with the Ministry of Interior, to deploy Egyptian police units for the same mission in CAR."
"An Egyptian police unit will be deployed to Mali, which is Egypt's first military contribution to achieve stability there," Badr said.
Badr added that efforts are being made to increase the number of Egyptian police in the UN and AU's peacekeeping mission in Darfur. He pointed out that 24 Egyptian police officers would be dispatched to Darfur soon.
"Egypt contributes to eight UN peacekeeping missions, which shows that Egypt plays a pivotal role in maintaining international peace and security," he added.
The first Egyptian contribution in UN peacekeeping operations was in Congo in 1960.
Over 37,000 Egyptian security personnel took part in 37 UN peacekeeping missions since that date in 24 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
