CRPF's woman team to leave for Liberia

NEWDELHI: The CRPF will soon send a 103-strong women contingent - a majority ofthem mothers - on the UN Peacekeeping Mission to Liberia.Thecontingent will be in the West African country as members of the Female FormedPolice Unit (FFPU) to help the Liberian police in law and order duties for ayear. The contingent, with only a handful of men for logistical duties, will besent in two batches on February 3 and 17.This is the third batch ofpersonnel being sent to Liberia since 2007. "This third women's battalion hasbeen trained in all firearms like other contingents. But looking at our pastexperiences of dealing with crowds and upkeep of law and order duties along withother security requirements, we have given small arms training as well thistime," contingent commander for the 3rd FFPU Annie Abraham said.Forthe first time, the CRPF team will also train police and civilian women inLiberia in self-defence as a part of its women empowerment initiative, Abrahamsaid.More than 80% women on the contingent are mothers and hail from23 states of the country. While 27 -year-old Monia Gusain is the youngest memberof the team, 43-year-old Taslima Khan - who joined CRPF in 1986 and also servedin Sri Lanka with the Indian Peace Keeping Force - is the oldest.