A contingent of 200 soldiers making up a Combat Convoy Company (CCC) of the Sri Lanka Army is set to leave for Mali. A military parade of the Mali bound CCC got underway on 30 November at the Sri Lanka Light Infantry (SLLI) Headquarters parade ground in Panagoda, in the presence of Major General Amal Karunasekara, Colonel of the Regiment, SLLI.
Army Commander, Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake initiated several rounds of discussions to this effect in order to expedite the deployment of the UN mission. The first CCC of the Army for UN Peace Enforcing Mission under the Chapter 7 of the UN charter as scheduled leaves the island for Mali early in December for a period of one year.
This 200-member strong CCC of the Sri Lanka Army, comprised 10 Regiments is to be commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Kalana Amunupure with Major Hasantha Hennadi as Second-in-Command. Sri Lanka Army dispatched its first contingent of SLLI Regiment troops for UN Peace Keeping Missions in Haiti on 22 October 2004.
To-date, over 19,000 members of the Sri Lanka Army have contributed to UN Peace Keeping Missions.