On the morning of May 21, at the Headquarters of the Ministry of National Defense, Deputy-Defense Minister, Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh, under the authorization of the State President, handed over the State President’s decisions to seven Vietnamese military officers.
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Representative of the Department of Personnel announces the decisions. |
Under the decisions, the seven Vietnamese military officers will hold different positions at the two UN peacekeeping missions of UNMISS and MINUSCA.
At the meeting, Deputy-Defense Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh and leaders of the Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations and other relevant agencies under the Ministry of National Defense also listened to reports from three Vietnamese peacekeepers that had just finished their one-year working term in MINUSCA.
According to the reports, the Vietnamese peacekeepers in MINUSCA successfully accomplished their missions. They strictly observed international law and rules related to UN peacekeeping operations as well as the Vietnam People’s Army’s discipline and regulations.
They excellently completed all tasks assigned by the MINUSCA leadership and received complements from leaders of the UN peacekeeping mission.
Apart from their duties, they also did social activities in support of local people.
Regarding the Vietnamese peacekeepers’ supporting local people, Lieutenant Colonel Le Ngoc Son who had just returned home from the Central African Republic said, “Before being posted to MINUSCA, we had been briefed on the situation and known that there were few vegetables in the country. So we had brought some seeds of vegetables with us, and when we were there, we started to grow greens. Later, we also instructed local people to grow greens.”
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Decisions presented to peacekeepers |
“In the war-torn country,” Lieutenant Colonel Son went on to say, “Children sometimes had to stay at home and could not go to school every day; therefore, they were short of knowledge. We, Vietnamese officers, organized small classes to teach the disadvantaged children after our working hours and on weekends. Over the past year, we have taught some 150 children at various grades.”
These social activities conducted by the Vietnamese peacekeepers toward the local community were highly applauded by the MINUSCA leadership.
Listening to the reports, Deputy-Defense Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh praised the good results of the Vietnamese peacekeepers from MINUSCA, concluding that their task performances at the UN peacekeeping mission as well as their social activities for local people highlighted the nature of the Vietnam People’s Army, the qualities of “Uncle Ho’s Soldiers.”
Assigning tasks to the seven Vietnamese officers to be posted to UNMISS and MINUSCA, General Vinh asked them to further promote the good revolutionary tradition of the Vietnam People’s Army in multi-national environments.
“When I met UN senior officials and defense leaders of other countries, they all highly appreciated Vietnamese peacekeepers. All of you [the seven officers] have been trained well and selected carefully by the Vietnam Peacekeeping Department to represent the Vietnam People’s Army to implement the country’s international commitments. This is both honor and duty of you so you must try your best to overcome any difficulties and accomplish any assignments when you are deployed to the two UN peacekeeping missions.”
According to Chief of the Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations, Senior Colonel Hoang Kim Phung, the seven Vietnamese officers will be deployed to the two UN peacekeeping missions from now to the end of July 2018.
The first Vietnamese level-2 field hospital is also expected to be deployed to UNMISS in this second quarter.
Reported by Thu Nguyen - Van Hieu