Kemo Cham
14 July 2011
The Sierra Leone military is trumpeting what it considers its successes both at home and abroad, some 10 years after the country emerged from a decade -long civil unrest.
“We are recording more success stories in peacekeeping,” said the country’s military chief, in a statement released by the defence Ministry in Freetown.
The Chief of Defence Staff, Maj.Gen. Robert Yirra Koroma, said his men have served as peacekeepers in the hybrid UN Mission in the troubled Sudanese region of Darfur.
He said as a result of their performance, the UN has requested for a fourth contingent from Sierra Leone. This batch, according to the military chief, is presently undergoing training on peacekeeping.
At the height of its civil war, Sierra Leone hosted the largest single UN peacekeeping mission in the world.
At home, the army is praised for operations that broke a major drug smuggling ring. And in an operation with the US Coast Guards, they also foiled an attempt by a foreign vessel on an illegal fishing expedition in Sierra Leonean waters.
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