India will soon become the foremost contributor to the United Nations peacekeeping force when it dispatches next month a brigade-level group to Sudan, official sources said.
The Indian Army brigade will include two infantry battalions and some mechanised columns, the officials added.
The brigade will police Sudan's southern Darfur region, which has been wracked by ethnic conflict between Muslim and Christian militia, they said.
With this, India will have more than 7,000 troops in peacekeeping role under the UN banner.
India already has presence in the UN peacekeeping contingents in Lebanon, Ethiopia-Eritrea and Congo.
India contributing to the peace force assumes significance as its Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Videsh Limited is operating an oil field in southern Sudan and has also taken stake in two exploration blocks there.
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