Freetown — The main body of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces, RSLAF, would leave Freetown tomorrow to participate in peacekeeping operations in the Sudanese troubled region of Darfur.

The departure of the RSLAF officers would mark a complete deployment of Sierra Leonean troops in Sudan to the strength of 160 soldiers, including officers and men.

The engineer elements of the advance party are presently doing the construction work on the contingent's base in Nyala, Sudan, while the infantry elements have been launched into escort and patrols duties. The ministry of defense has been busy with pleasantries over the show of their professionalism.

It could be recalled that an advance party of RSLAF personnel left the Freetown international airport at Lungi on December 17, 2009 onboard a UN flight to do the ground work.

Deputy Chief of Defence Staff and spokesman of the military, Brig. Robert Yira Koroma informed journalists at a press briefing last December that the deployment of the officers in Darfur for peacekeeping mission emanated from a successful assessment of a pre-deployment visit by officers from the department of peacekeeping at the United Nations headquarters.

"The country is now poised to contribute to the United Nations African Union Peacekeeping Force in Darfur with a formed troop of a reconnaissance company. Their logistics have been sent in advance," he disclosed.

Brig. Koroma also noted that all necessary agreements governing such an operation have been signed between the government of Sierra Leone and the United Nations.