Upon the request made by United Nations Headquarters, New York, the Sri Lanka Aviation Unit in South Sudan with the concurrence of the Government of Sri Lanka planned to redeploy two (02) MI-17 Helicopters and 53 SLAF troops at MINUSCA, due to rising instability in the Central African Republic (CAR) with ongoing elections. Therefore, to cater the requirement of reinforcing the UN Mission in CAR, two (02) MI-17 Helicopters and troops from Sri Lanka Aviation Unit ,UNMISS were deployed to Bangui CAR.

As the first phase of the re-deployment programme, a MI-17 Helicopter was deployed on 29 December 2020 with 34 SLAF troops from Sri Lanka Aviation Unit at Bor, South Sudan. Re deployment of the second MI 17 helicopter took place today (06 January 2021) with 19 SLAF airmen. Both helicopters were flown to Bangui in CAR from Bor in South Sudan, covering a distance of 964 nautical miles.

This re-deployment will enhance the intermission cooperation between UNMISS and MINUSCA. The Sri Lanka Aviation Unit redeployed to Bangui, CAR will be tasked to conduct air operations in support of the UN mandate for MINUSCA.