BEIJING, Sept. 22 -- The second echelon of the 26th Chinese peacekeeping force to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), consisting of 101 members, safely entered the Chinese engineering contingent's barracks in the mission area in Bukavu city, South Kivu province of the DRC, on Sept. 21, local time. Their arrival marks that all members of the 26th Chinese Peacekeeping force to DRC are in position.
The 26th Chinese peacekeeping force to the DRC consists of an engineering detachment and a medical detachment selected from a brigade under the PLA Xizang Military Command and the General Hospital of the PLA Xizang Military Command.
On September 7, 109 members of the first echelon of the 26th Chinese peacekeeping force to the DRC, consisting of 74 members of the engineering contingent and 35 members of the medical contingent, departed from Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan Province. The 25th and the 26th Chinese peacekeeping engineering contingents to the DRC conducted mission handover on Sept. 13, local time, and the 26th Chinese peacekeeping engineering contingent officially took over the mission area on Sept. 19, local time.
With all members in position, the 26th Chinese peacekeeping engineering contingent will engage in engineering investigation, bridge construction, unexploded ordnance disposal, and humanitarian relief missions in the next 12 months.
On September 14, local time, the 25th and 26th Chinese peacekeeping medical contingents completed troop rotation and mission handover at the Chinese Level-II Hospital under the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the DR Congo (MONUSCO) in Bukavu city, South Kivu province of the DRC.
So far, China has dispatched more than 3,000 peacekeepers to the UN peacekeeping mission area in the DRC.