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A 125-strong women's contingent of the CRPF is leaving for Liberia next Monday to replace an existing team of the Indian women paramilitary force deployed there as part of an UN peacekeeping force in the strife-torn African nation.

The age of the team members is between 27 to 40 years and 80 percent of them are mothers, they said.

The team led by Commandant Rakhi Sahi will leave for Liberia on 29th January to replace the existing group commanded by Seema Dhundiya, which has earned praise from President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf for motivating the country's women to join police.

It consists of one deputy commandant, three assistant commandants besides 100 women fighting force and some male supporting staff.

The personnel have undergone training in endurance, advanced armed combat tactics, crowd and mob control, modern sophisticated weapons, counter-insurgency operations, disaster management, international policing with special emphasis on community policing.

It is for the first time that the constables have been trained in Side Arms, namely 9 mm pistol, officials said.

"Keep India's flag flying high in the African nation. Out of the 23 nations deployed there, only India has the privilege of having an exclusive women's team there, CRPF Director General S I S Ahmed told the contingent as they demonstrated their skills at a function.

The CRPF women contingent, which was deployed last year in Liberia, was the first exclusive female team of police which was pressed into action in any UN peacekeeping force.

The UN had approached India for an extension of the force's deployment in Liberia for another year as it received praise from UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) Commander Lt Gen Chikadikia Obiaka and Deputy Special Representative of UN Secretary General, Henreitta Joy, who commended the CRPF work as a "five star" performance.

The present contingent led by Commandant Dhundiya, was entrusted with the security of the President, joint patrolling and general area domination besides riot control and training of officers of the National Police in the crisis-hit West African nation.

The UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) took over peacekeeping duties from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in October 2003 to bring about a thaw among warring ethnic groups.