Head of all-female Indian force arrives in Liberia

United Nations, Jan 23 (UNI) The commander of an all-female United Nations Indian police unit has arrived in Liberia, as part of an advance team that will pave the way for the landmark deployment of a 125-strong force this month.

This is the first time the world body has sent an all-woman specialised police unit as part of a peacekeeping operation.

Seema Dhundiya, who is leading the Formed Police Unit (FPU), reached the Liberian capital of Monrovia on Sunday along with logistics and engineering specialists. They will lay the groundwork for the smoother arrival of the other members of Dhundiya's unit, who will be in Liberia around January 29, according to a spokesman.

Dhundiya, a 40-year-old mother of two, was confident of handling any situation her unit would be confronted with.

The spokesman for the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) Ben Dotsei Malor, spoke in Monrovia and copies of his remarks were available yesterday at the world body in New York.

The FPU will consist of 125 people, of which 103 would be female officers and 22 male members serving in logistics. The women will be formed into three platoons of 30 each, comprising one platoon leader and 29 officers.

While the contingent will be based in Monrovia, members may be deployed anywhere in the country.

India's decision to send the women officers to assist the UNMIL operation was announced in September and since then the team has been undergoing intense training. The United Nations has had increasing success with FPUs over the past few years as a means of bridging the gap between regular and lightly armed police and fully armed blue helmets.

The FPU, which will be better armed than a regular unit, will provide general support to UN police activities in Liberia, including protecting UN officials and civilian police as they perform their duties, plus also acting as a rapid reaction force for crowd control and helping train local police officers, the world body said.

The female FPU represents further effort by the United Nations to attract women police officers into peacekeeping operations worldwide, because by the end of 2006 while there were around 8,482 officials serving worldwide, only 454 -- around 4 per cent -- were women.

Mark Kroeker, a UN police adviser, who had served with the Los Angeles Police Department for more than three decades, earlier welcomed the addition of women officers to the global body's peace operations.

The Indian contingent comprises members drawn from across the country and they are experienced in combating insurgencies in Kashmir and the Northeast.

All members of the unit volunteered for the peacekeeping operation.

UNI