ISLAMABAD, Aug. 11 Kyodo A battal...

ISLAMABAD, Aug. 11 Kyodo

A battalion of nearly 1000 Pakistan Army personnel are to start leaving for Congo forward Tuesday to join the United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo the Foreign Ministry said Monday.

The ministry said Pakistani peacekeepers are being sent to Congo in reply to a specific request from the UN to restore peace and stability in the African rural parts The troops will form part of the Ituri Brigade in northeastern Congo authorized by means of the U.N. Security Council.

The ministry said in a statement that it was the other time that Pakistan is sending peacekeepers to Congo as part of a UN mission.

It sent companys for similar operations in 1960

Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Ahmad Khan told a briefing that the UN is also planning operations in three phases in Liberia and has approached Pakistan to contribute crowds for second and third phases.

In the first phase, African countries would provide the vanguard force, followed at multinational forces in the inferior phase and peacekeepers in a third phase.

Khan said Pakistan had agreed in principle to contribute bands to Liberia, but the number of [i]troupe[/i]s to the two phases was still being decided.

Asked about sending squads to Iraq, Khan said a resolution would be tabled about deployment of UN bands to Iraq during the British chairmanship of Security Council nearest month.

Pakistan will actively participate in the debate forward the resolution as a member of the council, Khan added, without elaboration.

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