India supports peace process and capacity building in South Sudan

India on Tuesday supported the peace process and capacity building in South Sudan in the journey for peace.

Pratik Mathur, Counsellor at India's Permanent Mission to United Nations reiterated India's strong support via UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).

"At @UNPeacebuilding Commission's meeting on South Sudan, Counsellor @PratikMathur1 expressed India's strong support via @unmissmedia (#India provides 2400+ peacekeepers) & bilaterally to support peace process & capacity building in #SouthSudan in the journey for peace," tweeted Mathur.

Recently, India deployed an all-woman platoon of peacekeepers as part of the Indian Battalion to the United Nations Interim Security Force in Abyei (on the border between South Sudan and Sudan).

The Abyei Area is a border area between South Sudan and Sudan that has been granted "special administrative status" by the 2004 Protocol on the Resolution of the Abyei Conflict (Abyei Protocol) in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the Second Sudanese Civil War.

Abyei Town is the capital of the Abyei Area. The Abyei Area was considered, on an interim basis, to be part of both the Republic of South Sudan and the Republic of Sudan under the terms of the Abyei Protocol, effectively creating a condominium.

This is India's largest single unit of women peacekeepers in a UN mission since the deployment of the first-ever all-woman contingent in Liberia in 2007.

India is one of the largest contributors of troops to UN peacekeeping missions.

The Indian contingent, includes two officers and 25 other ranks, part of an engagement platoon that will specialize in community outreach while also performing extensive security-related tasks.

Their presence is especially welcome in Abyei, where a recent surge in violence has triggered a slew of difficult humanitarian concerns for women and children in the conflict zone.

Under the banner of the United Nations, the team will provide relief and assistance to women and children in one of the most difficult terrain conditions.

Women peacekeepers are highly regarded in peacekeeping missions around the world for their ability to reach out to and connect with local women and children, particularly victims of sexual violence in conflict zones.

This is India's largest single unit of women peacekeepers in a UN Mission since it deployed the first-ever all-contingent women's from the Central Reserve Police Force in Liberia in 2007 as part of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL).

In 2007, a fully formed Female Police Unit with CRPF personnel was deployed in the African nation, making it the first all-female police team deployed by any UN peacekeeping force.

The mission received praise from Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the then-Liberian President, who stated that the country had 17 per cent women in its security forces, up from less than 1 per cent a few years ago, and that the country owed this to India.