June 10, 2008
The second batch of Cambodian deminers, 135 officers and soldiers in all, returned to the Bochentong Air Base here Tuesday, after accomplishing their year-long UN peacekeeping tasks in Sudan.
"Now, they come back, safe, healthy and in due numbers, after earning honor for our country," Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Tea Banh told the deminers' family members, government officials, UN representatives and diplomats at the welcome ceremony.
Before their departure from the African country, they had handed over the UN mission to the third batch of 139 Cambodian demining officers and soldiers who left the kingdom Sunday at the base, according to a military press release.
So far, Cambodian deminers have cleared 57,542,488 square meters of areas in Sudan, Ke Kim Yan, Commander in Chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF), told Sunday's send-off ceremony.
Cambodia has taken part in UN peacekeeping operations on humanitarian mine clearance in Sudan for the third consecutive year, he said.
Along with consistent economic growth, Cambodia has been seeking to gain international military presence.
The second batch of Cambodian deminers, 135 officers and soldiers in all, returned to the Bochentong Air Base here Tuesday, after accomplishing their year-long UN peacekeeping tasks in Sudan.
"Now, they come back, safe, healthy and in due numbers, after earning honor for our country," Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Tea Banh told the deminers' family members, government officials, UN representatives and diplomats at the welcome ceremony.
Before their departure from the African country, they had handed over the UN mission to the third batch of 139 Cambodian demining officers and soldiers who left the kingdom Sunday at the base, according to a military press release.
So far, Cambodian deminers have cleared 57,542,488 square meters of areas in Sudan, Ke Kim Yan, Commander in Chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF), told Sunday's send-off ceremony.
Cambodia has taken part in UN peacekeeping operations on humanitarian mine clearance in Sudan for the third consecutive year, he said.
Along with consistent economic growth, Cambodia has been seeking to gain international military presence.
Cambodia sent its first batch of over 130 deminers to Sudan in April 2006 under the UN umbrella, the first time that the kingdom participated in the world body's global peacekeeping efforts.
It has also joined two multinational military exercises respectively in Mongolia and Bangladesh, since peace was established in the kingdom in 1997.
Source:Xinhua
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