Troops Leave for Peacekeeping Mission

An advance party of 400 troops left Ghana on Wednesday for peacekeeping duties in Sierra Leone, the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) reported.

At a pre-departure ceremony, the director of Army Peacekeeping Operations, Colonel R. Debrah, reminded the soldiers of the difficult and unpredictable nature of the operations in Sierra Leone and called on them to be worthy ambassadors of Ghana. The last batch of 370 Ghanaian peacekeepers is expected to leave on 16 September, GBC reported, citing a statement from the armed forces.

UNAMSIL's strength is just under 17,000.