PNG urged to do more UN duties

By JUNIOR UKAHA
THE United Nations says it wants to see more Papua New Guinean troops taking part in UN peacekeeping missions.
UN resident coordinator Carol Flore-Smereczniak said the departure of three PNGDF soldiers to Sudan and South Sudan on UN duties was a “trail-blazing event for PNG and the UN hopes to see many more officers follow in their footsteps”.
“These three men have agreed to take up the world’s call for peace and will travel to the world’s newest country as part of the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNISS),” she said.
“They will help provide vital security and stability to this young nation, with the protection of civilians at the very heart of their mission.”
She said the trio would join more than 83,000 other UN troops and military observers serving around the globe.
She said while they were the first PNG UN peacekeepers, many would follow.
“Let me thank their families: parents, wives, children, relatives for the sacrifice so that their husbands, sons, brothers and children can guarantee the safety of other people.
“It is a tremendous sense of courage and bravery to place yourself in considerable peril to help the UN uphold fundamental human rights around the world,” she said.
PNGDF commander Brig-Gen Francis Agwi urged the trio to be good ambassadors and to “fly the Kumul high and fly it with pride”.
He told them they represented the seven million-plus people of PNG and they must maintain the highest standard.
He said the officers were “guinea pigs” for this exercise and whatever they recommended would be considered and improved further.
Major Nicholas Henry, 40, from Tarawe village, Siassi, Morobe, who will be based in South Sudan, said the trip was a challenge for him.
He said they would “observe, monitor and report” the situation on the ground to the UN for six months.
He said although their families were concerned, it was a national call of duty and they had to live up to it.
Majors Henry, Bruno Malau and Sebastian Ipauki leave the country this week.
They will serve in Dafur, Sudan, and the newly independent nation of South Sudan.