GAO, Mali, April 2 (ChinaMil) – A group of bunkers built by the 5th Chinese peacekeeping engineer detachment to Mali at the Super Camp of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) in Gao passed the acceptance check of the engineering department under the MINUSMA Headquarters on March 29, local time.
The security situation in Mali has further deteriorated since the beginning of this year, and there have been 20 terrorist attacks, killing more than 50 people, among which two rocket attacks occurred in Gao’s downtown area on January 1 and March 14, respectively, and the explosion of the latter attack was less than a kilometer away from the Gao Super Camp.
In early February this year, China’s peacekeeping engineering detachment began constructing the shellproof bunkers in the Gao Super Camp according to the deployment of the MINUSMA.
According to the requirements of the MINUSMA engineering department, the concealed space inside the bunker is a container with explosion-proof sand boxes around the container and sandbags laid on the top. A protective layer of at least 1.5 meters thick is formed after an earth filling is added.
In order to complete the bunker as soon as possible, 45 Chinese engineers operated more than a dozen construction machines and armored vehicles, working nine hours a day on average and braving temperatures above 40°C (104 °F) and frequent dust storms.
After 50 consecutive days of hard work, they completed the task 15 days ahead of the mission deadline. The 45 Chinese engineers had filled more than 1,800 sandboxes and nearly 20,000 sandbags, and excavated about 7,000 cubic meters of sand in the 50 days of bunker construction period.