Bangladesh has given consent to sending more troops to the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan at the request of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Ban had made the request in a telephone call to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday evening, PM’s Information Adviser Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury said.
“The prime minister has given her approval to the proposal,” Iqbal Sobhan said.
Bangladesh Permanent Representative to UN Abdul Momen said the UN needed immediate deployment of more troops in the African nation and asked if Bangladesh could help.
“I contacted Dhaka and asked for their opinion,” Momen told the Dhaka Tribune over telephone from New York.
“They need about 5,000 troops, but it is not possible for Bangladesh to meet their requirement,” he said, adding: “It is expected Bangladesh will send 1,000 troops.”
In reply to a question, Momen said the present political situation in Bangladesh was not discussed with the UN side. “They only talked about troop deployment.”
Momen also said he had no knowledge of the report submitted to Ban Ki-moon by UN Assistant Secretary-General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco following his recent visit to Dhaka.
“Taranco briefed me on his visit, but he did not say anything about the report,” Momen said.
Taranco visited Dhaka on December 6-11 to try and resolve the political stalemate over the formation of a polls-time government.
In the report, Fernandez-Taranco stressed that the UN should stay engaged with the stakeholders in Bangladesh.
During the visit, he had a series of meetings with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad and other political leaders.
Awami League and BNP leaders held two meetings in his presence to discuss the interim government issue but failed to reach a consensus.
