By Mohamed Massaquoi

The Permanent Representative of the Republic of Sierra Leone to the United Nations, His Excellency Ambassador Alhaji Fanday Turay has assured members of the United Nations C34 Sub-Committee that the Government of Sierra Leone is committed to contributing formidable forces to peacekeeping operations across the world.

He said frantic efforts are underway to upgrade the deployment readiness level of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces, RSLAF and the Sierra Leone Police, SLP in order to fully participate in peacekeeping activities at various missions.

Ambassador Turay made the statement while addressing the Under-Secretary-General of Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, and Under-Secretary-General for Operational Support, AtulKhare, on priority pledges for the Peacekeeping Ministerial meeting which will be held on 7 and 8 December 2021.

The meeting was organized by the Republic of Korea and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, co-sponsored by the other co-chairs of the Peacekeeping Ministerial Meeting.

He informed the meeting that the Government of Sierra Leone will be prioritizing its pledge to the United Nations Department of Peace Operations (UNDPO) through the Peacekeeping Capability Readiness System (PCRS) as follows:

RSLAF will provide for – Engagement platoons, One Military Police Company, One Quick Reaction Force, One Force Protection Company, and One Infantry Battalion for deployment on Peacekeeping operations come 2022.

SLP – will provide one additional Formed Police Unit, 20 additional Individual Police Officers (IPOs) and Specialized Police Teams (SPT).

Correctional Centre – Various Individual Correctional Centre Officers will be provided.

The PR informed that the Government of Sierra Leone will train and equip these forces to rapid deployment level to be deployed as and when required by the UN.

He concluded by stating that “Sierra Leone will highly appreciate partnering with other organizations for training and capacity building for our troops”.