The Philippines will soon send a team of 320 military officers for the peacekeeping missions in strife-torn Liberia and Haiti, the country's military chief said Thursday.
Of the peacekeepers, 165 are going to Liberia while the rest are bound to Haiti, replacing the current contingents in the two areas who are about to complete their six-month tenure.
The Liberia group is departing Manila on August 1 while the Haiti peacekeepers are leaving on August 11.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Alexander Yano, who sent off the team on Thursday, said Filipino peacekeepers are being sent not only as soldiers but more importantly as emissaries of goodwill and hope.
Yano said the soldiers, while on the peacekeeping mission, are also anticipated to assist in establishing an effective administrative system of governance, and work with other agencies and stakeholders for the delivery of humanitarian aid and rehabilitation.
Yano also told the soldiers that after their overseas service, they would be tapped to do similar peacekeeping jobs in the southern Philippine region of Mindanao, where radical members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Abu Sayyaf extremists have been on sporadic clashes with the government troops for decades.
Source:Xinhua
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