"Everything is ready. At the moment all that has to be done is to clear up a number of logistical issues in the theatre of operations, but these are of a logistical nature," said Rovisco Duarte.

The United Nations (UN) approved a peacekeeping mission to the Central African Republic in April 2014 with the protection of citizens as its main priority. The Central African Republic has experienced over three years of a bloody civil war and sectarian violence.

The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Central African Republic (MINUSCA) took on the task of peacekeeping in the country in 2015.

The Portuguese chief of staff was speaking to journalists at the end of a visit by members of the parliamentary committee for National Defence to the Commando regiment in Sintra, just north of the Portuguese capital Lisbon.

Around 160 soldiers from the Army Commandos will be deployed to Central African Republic as part of the United Nations (UN) mission in the country, in a “hostile and very dangerous” environment, according to the president of the parliamentary committee, Marco António Costa.