New Delhi, Jan 25 (IANS) Guarding the president of Liberia – who is Africa’s first woman head of state – is among the tasks cut out for the second Indian women paramilitary contingent that is going to the strife-torn nation as part of a UN peacekeeping mission.
A specialised Formed Police Unit (FPU) of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), comprising 125 women officers, will be departing for Liberia next week under the supervision of Commandant Rakhi Sahi. It will replace one such all-women Indian team there.
However, Sahi herself along with 15 junior officers is leaving for the Liberian capital of Monrovia Friday to take over the challenging task from Commandant Seema Dhundiya.
The FPU has over the last three months received training in crowd control, handling of weapons, teargas, unarmed combat and international policing with special emphasis on community policing.
“We have a defined task of providing security to Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, high profile officials and guests. We would also be doing law and order management apart from providing training to police officials in the country,” Sahi told IANS.
“We are mentally and physically prepared to take the tough challenge ahead. We have received valuables inputs from the existing team that would help us in acclimatising there,” added Sahi, who has been with the CRPF for the past 20 years and has lead 1,300 personnel.
Sahi said her team is aware of the current situation in Liberia and has been handed over a list of dos and donts. The team members are aged between 27 and 40 years and 80 percent of them are mothers.
The FPU is also expected to build confidence among the people in the country plagued by ethnic conflicts.
Mamta Singh, second in command, said: “Apart from restoring peace, the new contingent would continue the task of training and educating the local police in the art of effective policing.”
“It is an honour for us that out of the 23 nations deployed there, only India has the privilege of having an exclusive women’s team there,” Singh added.
A CRPF officer said the departing contingent is taking no arms and ammunition along with it but would be using a wide array of weaponry, including batons, teargas shells, pistols, INSAS rifles, AK-47s and light machine guns.
“But for the first time constables have been trained in side arms, namely 9 mm pistol. The contingent is fully prepared for all contingencies and is carrying with it logistics like bullet proof vehicles, riot control vehicle Vajra, arms and ammunition, night vision devices and Global Positioning Systems,” the officer added.
Last year, the stay of India’s first women contingent was extended for six months on the request of the UN for its commendable work ranging from seizing drugs, killing robbers and recovering huge caches of weapons and fake currency in the West African nation.
The team had left for the Liberian capital in January last year for six months under a UN peacekeeping mission – the first such all-women mission from India.
The UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) took over peacekeeping duties from the Economic Community of West Africa States in October 2003 and all peacekeepers are now under the UN command. UNMIL currently has over 15,000 military personnel and over 1,000 civilian police officers.
S.I.S. Ahmed, the CRPF director general, said: “It is a matter of pride for not only the force but also for the nation that our women have brought laurels through their performance.”