NEW DELHI: India will next month dispatch an infantry battalion for UN peacekeeping operations in the oil-rich Abyei region in Africa, which straddles northern and southern Sudan and is hotly contested by both.The Indian infantry group with around 570 soldiers will be deployed under the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), which is tasked with monitoring the volatile border between north and south and facilitating humanitarian aid. The deployments have ranged from Yemen, Namibia, Mozambique, Angola, Ethiopia-Eritrea to Cambodia, Somalia, Rwanda, Lebanon, Congo and Sudan.But this has not yielded anything till now in terms of India’s concerted efforts to seek a permanent seat with veto powers in the UNSC. Just last month, India’s envoy to the UN, T S Tirumurti, had again underlined India’s case for a permanent UNSC membership.“India will continue to push for UNSC reforms. Apart from our performance at the UN and other factors, the Army’s participation in various peacekeeping operations has ensured stability in different parts of the world. Moreover, hefty UN allowances in dollars given to the soldiers, over and above their Indian rupee salaries, are also more than welcome.

Source: The North Africa Journal January 17, 2022 10:13 UTC