The defence authorities are making every effort to obtain more Sri Lankan troop placements with the United Nations Peacekeeping Force but their efforts have been stymied due to the lack of diplomatic intervention, a senior official said yesterday. He said that Colombo had already made several representations to the UN body in this regard at the topmost level but these efforts are not receiving proper diplomatic support in New York.
“Diplomatic intervention is necessary to persuade the UN to consider the deployment of Sri Lankan troops in their peace keeping operations in trouble spots of the world but this is not happening and it is very unfortunate,” the official who did not wish to be named told the Sunday Observer.
He said the Foreign Ministry in Colombo has been told of these developments and they are hopeful that there would be desired results at the very earliest. Sri Lanka’s contribution to the ‘Blue Helmets’ began in 1957 and at present there are 1,000-plus troops including female cadres serving in UN Peacekeeping operations in parts of Africa as well as in Lebanon, he said. “Our troops who were successful in putting an end to a bloody and protracted 25-year-old separatist conflict in the North and the East are battle-hardened, experienced and ready to be deployed in any trouble spot in the world if necessary”. The Sri Lankan UN mission in Mali is due to return home before Christmas as the world body has decided to pull out from that West African country owing to the prevailing turbulence in the region. At present there are some 243 Sri Lankan military personnel including 20 officers based in Mali. Some five Sri Lankan soldiers have also paid the supreme sacrifice and another eight others have been injured to date while serving in the UN Peacekeeping Forces.
