India's first batch of female 'peacekeepers' head to Congo

In a first, a 22-member women's contingent of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) will be deployed to the Democratic Republic of Congo on a United Nation peacekeeping mission. On June 19, the engagement team will leave for the country torn by civil war, as part of the rapid deployable battalion of the Indian Army.

The officers, aged between 26 to 37 years, will be posted in one of the country's most restive provinces, the North Kivu province. The Indian peacekeeping force has been attacked there twice.

The deployment is India's initiative towards the global body's gender parity and sensitization goals. SSB officers have been selected from various battalions after putting them through a gruelling selection process. They have also undergone weeks of specialized training.

The officers will patrol and engage with local communities, especially women, in trust-building exercises. "They will also contribute to civic action programmes and assist in investigation and riot control," said Director General of SSB Rajesh Kumar Chandra.

Chandra heads SSB, which has the mandate to guard the 2,450 km-long Indo-Nepal and Indo-Bhutan border, also has a special intelligence agency for that area. The border runs across Uttarakhand, UP, Bihar, West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has been strife-stricken ever since its independence from Belgium in 1960.

The UN estimates that £1.2 billion is required to end the humanitarian crisis in the country, a large section of whose population starves to death.

Of the two attacks on Indian peace corps, the first attack took place in 2010, and the most recent was on October 6 last year by 30 armed rebels. The unit retaliated and two attackers were killed, and two others were wounded.

The North Kivu province is spread over 43,700 sqkm and holds 948 villages. So far, all-in-all 153 Indian soldiers have laid down their lives as part of the United Nations' Peace Corps, including Capt GS Salaria who was posthumously awarded the Param Veer Chakra for his service in the Congo region.

Big Goals

• The officers, aged between 26 to 37 years, will be posted in North Kivu province.
• The deployment is towards the UN’s gender parity and sensitization goals
• The officers will be on patrol duties and engage with local communities, to build trust