By IANS,
New Delhi : A contingent of the Border Security Force (BSF) is leaving for Haiti in the Caribbean on a United Nations stabilisation mission there.
The 160-member paramilitary unit was flagged off here for its Haiti mission by BSF Special Director General Arvind Ranjan. The contingent will leave for Haiti on Jan 3, 2012.
The team, headed by Commandant Vikram Kunwar will join the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) and replace the First BSF contingent that will return home after completion of a yearlong successful deployment there, a BSF release said here Wednesday.
Haiti is a country with an area of 27,750 sq km in North America and has a population of about a million.
It has been badly affected by natural calamities beside poor governance. Port-au-Prince is the capital city and headquarters of many political institutions as well as HQrs of UN Mission.
The role of the Indian contingent in Haiti will be to maintain civil order, crowd control, protection functions, filling capacity gap, VIP security of UN staff, capacity enhancement and armed support to Haiti National Police.
India has a major representation of troops on UN Mission in various countries in which BSF is also a major contributing force.
This is the second BSF contingent on a UN Mission in Haiti and also second such contingent after UN Mission in Congo.