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U.S. peacekeepers troops to be redeployed from Sinai to the Gulf

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Friday, April 26, 2002

The United States is preparing to replace its peacekeepers in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.

Officials said many U.S. Army units are heading for such Gulf Cooperation Council states as Kuwait, Oman and Qatar to bolster military assets as part of preparations for a military campaign against Iraq.

Instead of the U.S. Army unit, the military has chosen a National Guard unit for the Sinai mission, according to Middle East Newsline. The unit chosen is the Oregon National Guard's 1-186th Infantry Battalion. Officials said the guard unit will remain in Sinai for six months and is the first time a reserve unit has been sent to the area.

The replacement of the peacekeepers will take place this summer as part of a rotation of U.S. troops deployed to monitor the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty.

Officials said the replacement effort has been hampered by the increasing need for U.S. troops as part of Washington's war on terrorism. They said the war has required the deployment of American soldiers both in the new Homeland Command as well as in such areas as the Persian Gulf.

The United States has about 960 soldiers in Sinai. The troops are part of the Multinational Force and Observers mission, which monitors the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty and the demilitarization of much of the peninsula.

Officials said the U.S. Army was to have sent an active unit Ñ the 172nd Separate Infantry Brigade out of Fort Wainwright, Alaska Ñ to the Sinai in July as part of rotation duties. But the army unit was called to remain on hand for an undisclosed mission in the U.S.-led war against terrorism.

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