Ten Egyptian policewomen joined the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) for the first time, the United Nations announced on Wednesday.
The female officers are assigned along with their male colleagues to patrols, escorts, protect of personnel, and securing UN facilities.
Egypt contributes with 323 personnel officers to MONUSCO, marking the first place among the troop-contributing countries, according to the latest UN statistics last March. Also, according to UN, women make up only 21% of the more than 100,000 peacekeepers in 14 missions around the world.
As of 2018, there are more than 3,000 Egyptians serving as peacekeeping troops in 24 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America.
The first Egyptian woman to join the peacekeeping mission was Nahid Salah, who served as the head of the police department at the UN Peacekeeping Mission to Morocco in 2014.
DR Congo has seen over the decades, ethnic clashes, acts of rebellion, and violence carried out by armed groups and militias trying to control the gold and other resources of the country.
