Video: Peacekeeping forces boosting SL image: Brigadier

15 October 2015 09:33 am

Sri Lanka has deployed nearly 255 Army, Navy and Air Force personnel in several countries -- in the Middle East, Africa and Oceania -- under the UN’s Peace Keeping Operations and that has led to create an extremely positive impression among the global community, particularly among UN member countries regarding Sri Lanka’s armed forces, Army spokesman Brigadier Jayanath Jayaweera said.

Addressing the weekly Cabinet news briefing today Brig. Jayaweera said : “We have deployed our armed forces personnel in Haiti, South Sudan, Lebanon, Congo, New York, Western Sahara, Central Africa etc and they are doing a good job drawing praise from the UN and the respective governments of the countries they serve in. Therefore, deploying more Sri Lankan armed forces personnel in peace keeping will not be a difficult task.”

He said Sri Lanka’s armed forces personnel were attending to various difficult duties in the countries they served in, varying from combat duty, engineering, transport and relief supply, and added the Sri Lanka Army personnel deployed in Haiti during the 2010 earthquake had been highly commended for their performance.

He said the good name earned by the Sri Lankan Armed forces came as a result of the positive and pragmatic diplomacy initiated by President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Army Commander Crishantha De Silva in the past few months.

Brigadier Jayaweera said that, for over five decades, Sri Lanka had been making modest contributions to UN peacekeeping efforts, and two Combat Transport companies, one Field Engineering company, one Plant Engineering company, three Infantry battalions, two Special Forces companies and one Combat Field Engineering company were on standby in Sri Lanka for future peace keeping operations of the UN.  (Sandun A Jayasekera)