Nigerien soldiers leave on peacekeeping mission to Côte d’Ivoire
Posted by africanpress on April 29, 2008
Publisher: Korir, api africanpress@getmail.no
A military contingent comprising 366 soldiers, two of whom are women of the Niger Armed Forces (FAN) left here on Saturday for Côte d’Ivoire as part of the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission (UNOCI).
These soldiers are due to spend six months in Côte d’Ivoire under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Abdoulkarim Goukoye, and will take over from another UNOCI Niger contingent that has ended its mandate.
Addressing his soldiers, Army Chief, General Moumouni Boureima extended to them ’the confidence of all the government, the army and that of all Niger people”.
General Boureima recalled that the Niger soldiers deployed in peacekeeping missions mainly in Côte d’Ivoire have “always shown good behaviour”.
Côte d’Ivoire is engaged in a normalisation process with the organisation of elections due in late next November following the troubles triggered by the September 2002 aborted coup.
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African Press International - API source.apa
