HÀ NỘI – The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, on Monday thanked Việt Nam for its strong support for as well as personnel contributions to UN peacekeeping operations.

He noted that Việt Nam has sent personnel to the UN peacekeeping forces since 2014 and continually made contributions.

It deployed a Level-2 field hospital to the UN Mission in South Sudan for the first time in October 2018. So far, it has sent 75 officers, including 16 females, to the peacekeeping force, ranking 62nd among the UN member states.

Vietnamese peacekeepers are performing duties at the UN missions in South Sudan and the Central African Republic. The country has also pledged to deploy personnel to the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei, a disputed area between Sudan and South Sudan.

Lacroix said that Việt Nam’s Level-2 field hospital in South Sudan had played an important role in the common success of the UN Mission in South Sudan.

It has not only helped ensure the health and medical conditions for UN peacekeepers, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic but also organised workshops to improve the awareness of major issues such as COVID-19, HIV/AIDS and gender-based violence.

He also spoke highly of Vietnamese officers’ professionalism, dedication, efforts, and sacrifice while performing duties in difficult environments, expressing his sympathies on the death of Lt. Col. Đỗ Anh, who had died earlier this year while working for the UN mission in the Central African Republic. -- VNS