Chinese Blue Helmets play active role in Africa
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-10-28 17:07
NAIROBI -- China is playing an increasingly active role in UN peacekeeping
operations in Africa, having participated in a total of 12 UN peacekeeping
operations in Africa, involving more than 3,000 personnel, a senior Chinese
official has said.
"A total of 1,273 Chinese peacekeepers are now
working for seven UN missions in Africa," said Xu Jinghu, the head of the Africa
Department of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, ahead of the forthcoming
China-Africa summit with the theme of "friendship, peace, cooperation and
development" in Beijing. The summit is scheduled for November 4 and 5 in
Beijing.
With strict discipline, professional skills and high sense of
humanitarian duty, Chinese peacekeepers have won respect from both the United
Nations and local people.
In Liberia, the western African country that
had just emerged from years of conflicts and chaos, China's engineering
contingent has rehabilitated hundreds of kilometers of roads while the medical
team has treated more than 3,000 patients.
On March 1, 2006, the Chinese
peacekeepers serving in UN mission in Liberia were awarded UN peacekeeping
medals.
Speaking at the medal distribution ceremony, Special
Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Liberia Alan Doss said that
through their engineering, transport and medical contingents, the Chinese have
provided invaluable services since their first deployment in Liberia in
November, 2003.
"The Engineering Contingent has to date repaired more
than 700 kilometers of the main supply routes in its area of operation. This is
a remarkable achievement given the deplorable road conditions in most rural
parts of Liberia," said Doss.
In Sudan, a place famous for its searing
heat, the first batch of Chinese peacekeeping troops received a task of building
a road of three kilometers in barely a week after their arrival this May.
Despite the high temperature of over 50 degrees Celsius, Chinese
soldiers completed the road within three days, winning applause from the UN
official who checked the project.
The Chinese peacekeeping force to
Sudan has settled in the southern city of Wau, less than 161 km from the
conflict-plagued zone of Darfur. The 435 troops of engineering, transport and
medicals will carry out various tasks during their six-and-a half year mission,
the longest ever peacekeeping mission for Chinese.
Living conditions in
the red desert of Wau are poor. No fresh vegetables are available, and regular
disinfection is necessary to keep cholera and malaria at bay.
But
Chinese peacekeeper Shan Jianhua said though new problems will crop up, the
soldiers are ready to fight a hard war. "We're determined to submit a
satisfactory scoresheet," Shan said.
David Harland, head of the
evaluation division of the UN peacekeeping action department, has published an
article titled " The Reason Why the UN Welcomes Chinese Peacekeeping Personnel,"
in which he cited the medical detachment and engineering detachment of the
Chinese peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of Congo as examples and
praised them for their excellent job.
He noted that as China is ready to
take a more active part in the UN peacekeeping actions, the world has every
reason to feel happy about this and it should welcome and encourage China to do
so.
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