Protest withdrawn,Indian peacekeepers on way to Congo

Sources said three battalions who are in Congo currently will be replaced by fresh troops. While the first batch is expected to depart by the end of this month,the other two battalions will shortly leave for the country. “The troops need to be replaced as they have already served their mandated term in the country. That is why fresh soldiers were needed and are being sent in,” an official said.

These will be the first troops to go to Congo after reports last year from Kinshasa said that Indian peacekeepers are being rejected due to allegations of sexual abuse. The stand-off had taken a serious turn in March when India cancelled the deployment of over 200 Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel to the country at the last minute. The IAF personnel were supposed to replace troops in Congo,but were pulled back at the last minute after assembling in New Delhi,raising concerns that India may pull out of the Congo mission completely.

Officials had then said that India was fed up with consistent and often ‘irrational’ complaints against its peacekeepers in the country. The complaints,officials said,often came through foreign social service organisations operating in the country.

In March,the Army gave a clean chit to around 100 soldiers who were indicted by an internal UN investigation for child abuse and sexual exploitation while posted at a peacekeeping mission in Congo. The Army’s inquiry into the matter did not find ‘even a single shred of evidence’ against its soldiers.