New Zealand Extends Middle East, Africa Peace Support Deployments

WELLINGTON, Aug 3 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 3rd Aug, 2020 ) :The New Zealand government has extended three Defense Force deployments to the middle East and Africa by two years.

"These deployments promote peace in the Middle East and Africa by protecting civilians and countering the spread of violent extremism," Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement on Monday.

"Developments in that part of the world can have a global impact, including on New Zealand's security and prosperity," Peters said.

The three extended deployments include a four-person contingent in the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), where New Zealand has contributed since 2011.

It has been extended to June 2022, the statement said.

A 28-person contingent to the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) mission in Sinai, Egypt, where New Zealand has contributed since 1982, has been extended to September 2022, it said.

An eight-person contingent in the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) in the Middle East, where New Zealand has contributed since 1954, has been extended to September 2022, the statement said.