Assam Rifles contingent leaves for Haiti UN mission

New Delhi, June 27 (IANS) A 160-man contingent of India's Assam Rifles Wednesday left for the Caribbean nation of Haiti on a year-long deployment under the United Nations' stabilisation mission that has been functioning there since 2004.

This is the third Assam Rifles contingent to be deployed in Haiti, according to a Home Ministry release. It includes 10 officers.

The contingent, led by Commandant R.C. Kothari, was flagged off by Assam Rifles officiating director general Major General R.K. Lakhanpaul.

The Indian government had sanctioned the services of Assam Rifles in Haiti for five years from 2010, with a contingent sent in rotation every year.

The first contingent had gone to Haiti in 2010 and was awarded with an unit citation from UN Police Commissioner and Indian Ambassador to Cuba, Dominican Republic and Haiti.

The force will be serving the UN mandate to restore a secure and stable environment in Haiti in order to promote a political process for strengthening Haiti's government institutions and rule of law.

Besides India, 41 other countries have deployed their personnel for UN operations in Haiti.

Haiti had suffered a severe earth quake in 2010 in which 2.2 lakh persons including 160 UN peacekeepers had lost their lives. The reconstruction work is still going on for which UN is playing a major role.