Both of the Kazakh parliament's chambers, the Mazhilis and the Senate, approved on January 19 a presidential proposal to send 430 Kazakh peacekeepers to the Middle East and Africa. Defense Minister Ruslan Zhaqsylyqov said the troops will join the UN Disengagement Observer Force on the Golan Heights, the UN Truce Supervision Organization that monitors Middle East peace, the UN Mission in South Sudan, and the UN Interim Security Force for Abye in Sudan. Kazakhstan is the only country among former Soviet republics in Central Asia participating in international peacekeeping programs. Dozens of Kazakh soldiers assisted international peacekeepers in Iraq in 2003-08. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, click here.
