Cambodia will send 43 soldiers to join the military exercise to be held next month in Mongolia for the peacekeeping mission of the United Nations, local media said on Tuesday.
"Our soldiers will join the military exercise in Mongolia for the peacekeeping mission of UN," Cambodian Defense Minister Tea Banh told reporters Monday.
Cambodia now has about 1,000 soldiers who has been trained for joining UN peacekeeping mission, but the kingdom is always cautious to choose the places where the soldiers will be sent to, he said.
"To some places we should send our soldiers, but some others we can't," he added.
He didn't elaborate on the details of the military exercise in Mongolia.
Cambodia sent 135 deminers to Sudan in 2006 for UN peacekeeping mission and then 139 in June this year to replace the old ones.
Source: Xinhua
"Our soldiers will join the military exercise in Mongolia for the peacekeeping mission of UN," Cambodian Defense Minister Tea Banh told reporters Monday.
Cambodia now has about 1,000 soldiers who has been trained for joining UN peacekeeping mission, but the kingdom is always cautious to choose the places where the soldiers will be sent to, he said.
"To some places we should send our soldiers, but some others we can't," he added.
He didn't elaborate on the details of the military exercise in Mongolia.
Cambodia sent 135 deminers to Sudan in 2006 for UN peacekeeping mission and then 139 in June this year to replace the old ones.
Source: Xinhua
3 comments:
It's great to see Cambodia contributing to world peace again but not to forget about the peace at home.
That's 43 less soldiers for all the 5 stars general to command.
What Excellency Tea Banh did not elaborate or say should be more important, and all fellow Cambodians should watch out.
The training is a military excercise. It is organised by the US at a a peacekeeping training centre in central Mongolia run by the US, for the US interest under the cloak of peacekeeping force. This is not training at the initiative of and organised by the UN.
The Chinese and the Russians do not like the US miliary presence in that part of Asia (closer to central Asia and in between China and Sussia). Hence Xinhua's interest in the story.
Cambodia should be very careful. There are other venues it should send its troops to to get such training. It may well deviate from its policy of permanent neutrality and the participation may well be unconstitutional. Cambodia could get itself in trouble. Our August King Sihanouk fell from power at least partly because of this deviation. Lon Nol sided with the US and engulfed the country in the Vietnam War with all the consequences we all know too well.
Who knows after such an exercise the US might encourage our army to send toops to US-created trouble spots under the cloak of peacekeeping? After all, last year, there were talks about getting Cambodian troops sent to Irak!
Let's draw lessons from our tragic history to avoid the same dangers in the future.
Having said that I dislike no nations. I wish them all well and we all should cooperate and not make war.
LAO Mong Hay, Hong Kong
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