Vietnamese military engineering unit inspects the equipment and vehicles to be deployed with them to UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA). — VNA/VNS Photo Trọng Đức

HÀ NỘI — Nearly 2,000 tonnes of equipment and materiel of Việt Nam’s first military engineering unit participating in the United Nations peacekeeping operations at the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) will be transported from Hải Phòng port in the northern city of Hải Phòng to the mission from April 4, according to the Ministry of National Defence’s Việt Nam Department of Peacekeeping Operations.

The equipment includes 147 types of engineering machines, trucks and guard vehicles.

Colonel Mạc Đức Trọng, commander of the Vietnamese peacekeeping force at UNISFA and head of the team, said the team has basically completed preparations, and has been transporting the equipment and goods to the Hải Phòng port from March 30-April 4.  

The UN has officially sent a vessel to the Hải Phòng port to receive the equipment and goods from Việt Nam, which will be shipped to Sudan port and then transported by road to Khartoum and Kaduqli of Sudan and to UNISFA.

As scheduled, the Vietnamese unit had to be present at UNISFA to begin its tasks in March 2022. However, because of difficulties related to international shipping and ship technology, the shipment has been delayed.  

Việt Nam’s military engineering unit comprises 184 officers and soldiers. It is the unit-level formation with the largest number of members ever participating in UN peacekeeping missions.

A group of the unit is expected to receive all these goods and equipment at the Sudan port and at UNISFA in late April. All members of the unit are scheduled to arrive in Abyei on May 10 before the rainy season begins in the area.

In a related development, Doctors of Việt Nam’s Level-2 Field Hospital Rotation 3 in Bentiu, South Sudan, have recently received a United Nations (UN) delegation led by Assistant Secretary-General for Supply Chain Management Christian Saunders.

The delegation came to Bentiu to survey the consequences of South Sudan’s largest flood in the past 60 years, according to the Việt Nam Department of Peacekeeping Operations.

The flood, which lasted from May 2021, has severely affected the lives of people and the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS)’s staff members, and is forecast to worsen as there is just one month left before the rainy season comes.

They discussed several issues related to the flood situation, logistics, food and aviation safety.

The delegation also showed their impression with the reception as well as dishes and drinks prepared by the Vietnamese field hospital’s staff members, as they used eco-friendly tableware.

After the meeting, the head of the UN’s logistics sector paid an unscheduled visit to Vietnam’s Level-2 Field Hospital Rotation 3 to encourage its staff members to uphold their achievements and overcome difficulties amid complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic and increasing floods. — VNS