Mission accomplished: Indian troops return after peacekeeping mission in South Sudan
Beginning this month, around 200 HMEC soldiers had returned to Delhi from South Sudan and about 60 more would be coming back next week.
Around 200 soldiers from the Army’s 62 Indian Horizontal Military Engineering Company (HMEC) returned to India after successfully completing their six-year-long peacekeeping mission in war-torn South Sudan.
“These soldiers were deployed in South Sudan, which gained independence from neighbouring Sudan in 2011, but slid into a brutal civil conflict and a broken economy,” said an Army officer, who was part of the peacekeeping mission.
Beginning this month, around 200 HMEC soldiers had returned to Delhi from South Sudan and about 60 more would be coming back next week, he said.
“As part of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), the unit was instrumental in repairing roads, runways, emergency repairs to bridges, construction and maintenance of a large number of shelters,” Major Abhishek Mishra, the project officer, who was part of the troops de-inducted from the peacekeeping mission, said.
“It has been a long journey away from home for all of us. Everyone is jubilant to be back home. It will be a great reunion with our families. We tried hard to put in our best efforts to ensure that we made the maximum contribution while serving in the mission in South Sudan. The situation in that country is not great but the United Nations is working round-the-clock to ensure peace there,” Major Mishra added.
Major Mishra lauded the contribution of the United Nations in bringing peace to South Sudan, which has seen some of the worst fighting in 2013 and a famine in 2017.