Phnom Penh (FN), May 17 - The Royal Government of Cambodia dispatched 298 blue berets, 25 females, to Mali on Friday to carry out United Nations peacekeeping missions, according to General Sem Sovanney, director-general of Cambodia's National Center for Peacekeeping Forces and Explosive Remnants of War Clearance on Tuesday.

The send-off ceremony was held on Friday at Phnom Penh International Airport, presided over by General Pol Saroeun, Senior Minister responsible for sending Cambodian forces to participate in UN peacekeeping mission.

The demining peacekeepers will be based in Gao, Anefis, Tombuktu, and Mopti, while the airport engineering forces at Kidal and Tessalit, according to General Pol Saroeun.

Since 2006, Cambodia has sent 6,053 peacekeepers, 285 females, to carry out UN peacekeeping missions in  Sudan, South Sudan, Lebanon, Cyprus, Syria, Chad, Mali and Central African Republic.
=FRESH NEWS