Malawi army peace-keeping mission trip in limbo
There are at least 800 soldiers
expected to travel to the war-torn north central African state and the first group was expected to set out on Wednesday July 1, 2009, but on the word of our sources within the MDF, the group could not depart the country as there was no equipment to leave with.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said “according to UN prerequisite, government is required to buy armed vehicles, generators and other security equipment for the mission but Malawi is failing to comply with the conditions.
“Government is supposed to release a refundable sum of money, however we are told we are not going because there is no money,” disclosed one of the soldiers who is part of the Malawi peace-keepers that were supposed to take over from Polish army.
According to the source, UN inspectors were in the country few months ago to see how things were but “were surprised to find out that government was yet to procure the equipment, hence the trip was put on hold”
“All our preparations are over and an advance party of close to 200 soldiers was supposed to leave today. At the moment we don’t know whether we are going or not,” said the peace-keeper designate.
Malawian soldiers are regarded by the UN and the African Union (AU) as one of the most disciplined peace-keepers in the region.
Tagged with: Malaiw army, MDF
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