China’s first peacekeeping helicopter detachment concluded the transport of soldiers and cargos of the Senegalese peacekeeping in-fantry battalion affiliated to the Sector North of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) on March 4.
It is reported that the Chinese helicopters, to conduct the mission for troop rotation, shall fly over the rebel-controlled areas in South Su-dan, where UN peacekeeping helicopters were once attacked. The Chinese helicopters of the detachment flew nearly 150 hours, trans-porting about 40 tons of cargos and 800 Senegalese peacekeepers in total.
China has grown into the largest source of peacekeeping personnel among the permanent members of the UN Security Council and the second largest contributor to the UN peacekeeping budget since join-ing UN peacekeeping operations in 1990.
Helicopters usually play a significant role in various peacekeeping operations because of its quick transit of personnel at lower risks than conventional transport vehicles.
