Preparations completed for Vietnam’s first military engineer unit to a UN peacekeeping mission

Members of Military Engineer Unit No. 1 examine vehicles before departing for UNISFA. (Photo: VNA)

Nearly 2,000 tonnes of equipment and supplies of Vietnam’s Military Engineer Unit No. 1, which is about to join the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), are being delivered to Hai Phong Port so as to be transported the mission by sea.

This is the biggest shipment prepared for a Vietnamese unit to take part in UN peacekeeping operations.

Talking to the Vietnam News Agency, Colonel Mac Duc Trong, Chief Commander of the Vietnamese force at UNISFA and head of Military Engineer Unit No. 1, said it has taken the country a very long preparation, from personnel to equipment, so as to be selected and invited by the UN to participate in the peacekeeping force in Abyei, a border area between Sudan and South Sudan.

Preparations for the unit have been basically completed. The UN on March 30 sent a vessel to Hai Phong Port to receive the equipment and supplies, which are being delivered to this port from March 30 to April 4 and then will be sent to the mission.

The equipment includes 147 vehicles and machines. Meanwhile, the military engineer unit consists of 184 members, and its advance team is scheduled to depart in late April to receive the equipment at a Sudanese port and UNISFA. The majority of the unit is expected to arrive in Abyei on May 10, according to Trong.

Vietnam has basically completed legal procedures and safety issues for the equipment, he said, noting that as problems may arise during the transportation, Vietnam and the UN have worked with Sudan to guarantee maximum safety for the equipment delivery on the 2,000km-long road journey from the Sudanese port to Abyei.

The officer added as this is a very long trip, the advance team is comprised of multifunctional personnel who are able to drive and operate all kinds of vehicles and machines as well as to unload supplies so that the main unit can get down to business as soon as they set foot in Abyei./.