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afrol News, 8 June - The United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) today announced that an advance party of 265 Pakistani troops are now in the country, marking the first arrival of the more than 4,000 Pakistani peacekeepers expected to join the Mission. The troops are scheduled to arrive in stages, from now until 22 August, UNAMSIL said. The Pakistani contribution to UNAMSIL was highly welcomed by the UN. Last year, forceful critics of the UNAMSIL leadership have made it difficult to recruit peacekeepers, jeopardising the greatest UN peacekeeping action ever. With India pulling out of the UNAMSIL in October last year, the situation seemed to get critical. India's decision sent the UN scrambling to find replacements as well as additional troops to bring UNAMSIL's troop strength from thus 12.447 to 20.500. There was talk of a crisis in the context of UN recruitment. British troops, supporting the Sierra Leonean government outside the UNAMSIL concept, however succeeded in maintaining a high pressure against the RUF terrorists/rebels, leading to their willingness to negotiate for peace. UNAMSIL troops have experienced a more peaceful climate over the last months, but new challenges have emphasised its demand for fresh troops. UNAMSIL troops in March this year for the first time were allowed to deploy on RUF-held territory. A lack of troops has however made this deployment limited to small areas, mostly confined to Lunsar, some 90 kilometres outside Freetown. The RUF occupies approximately half of the country. UNAMSIL troops, the world's largest peacekeeping force, are currently made up of around 10,000 troops, only half of the strength the UN Security Council had asked for. The UN still tries to recruit contingents from other countries. Sources: Based on UN sources and afrol archives
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