Source: Global Times New Media
The Times of India reported on January 17 that India will send an infantry battalion to the Abyei region of Africa next month to participate in UN peacekeeping operations. The oil-rich Abyei region, which straddles northern and southern Sudan, is an area of fierce rivalry between Sudan and South Sudan.
According to Indian media reports, about 570 Indian soldiers will be integrated into the United Nations Abyei Interim Security Force (UNISFA). The force's mandate is to monitor the precarious border between the two sides and to facilitate humanitarian assistance. UNISFA is also authorized to use force to protect civilians and aid workers in the Abyei region.
According to Indian media, India's dispatch of an infantry battalion to participate in peacekeeping is that India has begun a two-year non-permanent term on the UN Security Council since January 2021. Indian media said that this is the eighth time that India has taken a place on the "horseshoe table" of the 15-member UNITED Nations Security Council. (The tables in the UN Security Council conference room are horseshoe-shaped.)
Since India first sent troops to the United Nations from 1953 to 1954, indian troops have sent more than 258,000 soldiers out of 51 of 71 UN missions, of which 159 Indian soldiers died in the operation, according to Indian media. Deployment targets also range from Namibia, Yemen, Mozambique, Angola and Ethiopia-Eritrea to Cambodia, Somalia, Rwanda, Lebanon, the Congo and the Sudan.
But so far, these moves have not had any effect on India's efforts to seek permanent membership in the Security Council (with veto power). Just last month, India's special envoy to the United Nations, Tirumossi, once again stressed India's reasons for joining the Security Council as a permanent member. He said India would continue to push for Security Council reform and that the Indian Army was also involved in various peacekeeping operations to ensure stability around the world. In his view, India's large-scale troop contribution has indeed strengthened India's demand for permanent seats on the Security Council.
A senior Indian government official said participating in the Deployment of United Nations peacekeeping has also won India a favour internationally, particularly in mineral-rich Africa.
Indian media also pointed out that in addition to bringing "international exposure" to India, peacekeeping operations can also give India's corresponding troops a much-needed "repair time": these troops no longer have to perform arduous tasks at home, and the allowances paid by the United Nations to peacekeepers are also very popular with Indian soldiers relative to India's domestic salaries.