Nigeria to deploy 173 troops to Guinea Bissau on peacekeeping mission

The Nigerian Army will deploy 173 troops to Guinea Bissau on a peacekeeping mission.

The Chief of Operations, Army headquarters; Maj-Gen Oluwafemi Akinjobi, disclosed this at the pre-deployment ceremony for Nigerian contingent to ECOWAS mission in Guinea Bissau (ECOMIB) held at the Martin Luther Agwai International leadership and Peacekeeping Centre Jaji, Kaduna State, on Thursday.

The troops comprised 163 soldiers and 10 officers.

Akinjobi, who was represented at the event by the Director of Peace Operation, Army Headquarters, Maj-Gen. Zakari Abubakar, noted that Nigeria remains the beacon of peace in West Africa.

He said the Nigerian peacekeepers had helped restore peace in many conflict areas around the world, adding that the feats earned the country’s troops commendations across the world.

He thanked the Chief of Army Staff for his relentless support and strategic guidance of the Nigerian army.

READ ALSO: Several killed in Guinea Bissau’s attempted coup – President

Earlier, the Commandant of the Centre, Maj-Gen. Auwal Fagge said the aim of the pre-deployment training was to equip the earmarked unit with requisite skills and knowledge to function effectively and efficiently during their operations in Guinea Bissau.

Guinea Bissau has enjoyed relative peace in recent years after the political and military turmoil of 2010 threatened to tear the country apart.

However, heavy gunfire broke out near the Government House in the capital, Bissau, where President Umaro Sissoco Embaló and Prime Minister Nuno Nabiam were holding a meeting with the cabinet.

The attackers were quickly repelled by the country’s troops.

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