4 Mar 2005

Fiji army unable to supply troops for UN service in Sudan

8:32 am on 4 March 2005

Fiji's military is reported to be short of troops for further overseas deployment.

Fiji TV says the military is unable to meet a UN request for troops for peacekeeping duties in the Sudan and will send only two senior officers.

The report says there are no more soldiers for deployment in the Sudan.

It says this has been confirmed by the military spokesman, Captain Neumi Leweni.

But the military is preparing to send another two companies of 268 troops to Iraq after an earlier request by the United Nations.

They will be in addition to 134 troops who have been working for the UN there since November last year.

Fiji troops have been working for the UN since 1978 when they were deployed in Lebanon until 2002.