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German Navy
Photo: Hauke Christian Dittrich / dpa
The federal cabinet decided on Wednesday to extend two Bundeswehr missions abroad.
According to government circles in Berlin, German participation in the UN mission Unmiss in the civil war-torn country of South Sudan and in the NATO mission Sea Guardian in the Mediterranean are to be continued for a year each.
The Bundestag still has to approve the extensions.
According to the cabinet decision, the Bundeswehr should employ up to 50 soldiers to reinforce the UN-led peace mission "Unmiss", which is intended to help protect the population, stabilize it and provide access for humanitarian aid in South Sudan.
Currently, however, only about a dozen Bundeswehr soldiers are involved in the mission.
The task of the NATO mission "Sea Guardian" is to monitor the sea space in the Mediterranean and to fight terrorism.
No German soldiers are currently directly involved in the operation, although two frigates are providing support in the Mediterranean.
kim/dpa/AFP
