A contingent of 80 Rwandan police officers on Tuesday departed for a one-year peacekeeping mission under the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
The Formed Police Unit Three (FPU-3) replaced another unit which was deployed to UNMISS in March last year.
Prior to their departure, the deployed officers had also spent 14 days in quarantine, tested negative for COVID-19 and given test certificate.
Rwanda FPU in Malakal (South Sudan) is largely charged with the protection of civilians in internally displaced camps, UN personnel, security of key installations and humanitarian assistance, among others.
The replaced contingent returned home earlier Tuesday after a successful tour-of-duty.
UNMISS was established in July 2011, as South Sudan and the international community celebrated the country’s independence.
At the outset, its mandate focused on helping to build the new government’s capacity. But soon the situation began to deteriorate, and when conflict broke out in December 2013 the Mission was forced to shift from partnering with the government and its security forces to protecting civilians fleeing abuses by those same forces.
CU/abj/APA