A 180-member transport team of Chinese peacekeeping troops left
here Thursday aboard UN planes for a peacekeeping mission in
Liberia.
This is the second group from the transport company China has
sent to the West African country. The first group of 60 troops
arrived in the country on December 10, 2003.
According to sources with China’s Defense Ministry, at the
request of the United Nations the Chinese government will send 550
peacekeeping troops to Liberia, including a 240-member transport
company, a 275-member engineering team and 35 medical staff for a
UN hospital.
As the only professional transport team, the Chinese unit is
responsible for transporting materials, food and people for all
peacekeeping troops in Liberia. The mission is scheduled to last
one year, but it may be extended if the situation calls for it.
Before their departure, all 180 members had been trained in such
skills as using small arms, driving, speaking foreign languages,
preventing illness, surviving in field operations and manipulating
and maintaining special equipment, said the defense ministry.
On Wednesday, 179 vehicles and other equipment for the transport
company had arrived in Liberia. This is the first time that a large
quantity of sophisticated Chinese-made transportation equipment has
been sent abroad for peacekeeping efforts.
The defense ministry said the vehicles are of superb quality and
equipped to cope with the sultry weather and often-poor road
conditions in Africa. Vehicles have also been equipped with
facilities for water purification, bathing, cooking and
refrigeration for the troops.
Since China applied to the United Nations to offer peacekeeping
troops in 1988, the country has sent over 2,000 peacekeepers on 11
UN missions.
(Xinhua News Agency March 19, 2004)