A contingent of 184 multi-skilled Cambodian peacekeepers landed at Phnom Penh International Airport on the night of February 3 following a one-year mission under a UN mandate.

The peacekeepers – 30 of them women (16.3 per cent) – were welcomed at the airport by National Centre for Peacekeeping Forces, Mines and Explosive Remnants of War Clearance (NPMEC) director-general Sem Sovanny.

This comes a day after another contingent of 184 Cambodian peacekeepers – 29 of them women (15.8 per cent) – departed for Lebanon to replace them.

Sovanny said the returnees are allowed to take a short break and quarantine at home for three days, noting that they have to adhere to the “three do’s and three don’ts” Covid-19 guidelines.

According to the NPMEC, Cambodia has sent more than 7,000 soldiers on UN humanitarian missions since 2006 with deployments to nine countries – Sudan, South Sudan, Chad, Lebanon, Syria, Mali, Central Africa Republic, Cyprus and Yemen.