CAIRO – Egypt appreciates the role of peacekeeping operations in promoting and maintaining international peace and security, out of its belief in the collective pursuit of peace, said Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid Wednesday.
Posting on his X account today, Abu Zeid said Egypt marks the 76th anniversary of UN Peacekeeping, a day dedicated to honoring remarkable uniformed and civilian personnel.
In 1960, Egypt contributed to the first UN peacekeeping mission, the spokesman said, adding Egypt is a major troop- and police-contributing country to UN peacekeeping missions.
“Today, Egypt observes the 60th anniversary of the Egyptian peacekeepers, who sacrificed their lives to bring about peace to the world,” he said.
Egypt plays an active role in setting up peacekeeping policies through its role as the rapporteur of the UN Special Committee on Peace-keeping Operations, he added.
Since 1960, Egypt has contributed 32,000 military and police personnel (23,000 from the Armed Forces and 9,000 from the police), who served in 38 UN peacekeeping missions in 24 countries, he further noted.
For the first time in the history of UN peacekeeping operations, an Egyptian women team played a crucial role in saving lives by monitoring and defusing Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), while serving within the United Nations Mission in Mali (MINUSMA).
The MINUSMA Egyptian Formed Police Unit, deployed to Douentza in the Mopti Region of central Mali since 2017, has set up three Search and Detect teams to tackle the persistent threat of IEDs in Mali. One of them is composed entirely of women police officers, and it’s the first all-women Search and Detect team deployed in a UN peace operation.
He further underlined that Cairo International Centre for Conflict Resolution, Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding (CCCPA) is unique in being the only civilian training center on issues of peace, security and crisis management in the African continent.
Since its establishment in 1994, the Center has implemented 95 pre-deployment training courses and trained 23,70 Egyptian peacekeepers, including 1,630 current peacekeepers in UN peacekeeping missions, the spokesman said.
It also organizes 333 training courses for 28,000 trainees from 96 countries, including 50 African countries, he concluded.
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