By Zhang Zongfa and Xi Haichun
BEIJING, July 14 -- The medal-awarding ceremony of the Southern Sector of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) in 2021 was held at the "Chinese Peninsula" camp on July 12, local time.
Peacekeepers from four countries including China, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Uruguay participated in the event. All 218 members of the 24th Chinese peacekeeping troops to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) were awarded the UN Peace Medal of Honor.
At 9 a.m. on July 12, Lieutenant General Marcos De Sá Affonso Da Costa, Force Commander for the MONUSCO, inspected the peacekeeping forces and awarded the UN Peace Medal of Honor to representatives of peacekeepers.
The commander of MONUSCO spoke highly of the outstanding performance of Chinese peacekeepers. "You have done a lot of work to maintain world peace and regional stability, promote economic and social development, and improve the living conditions of local people. You are the best and most popular team in the mission area," he said.
It is learnt that since the 24th Chinese peacekeeping troops to the DRC was deployed in September 2020, in the face of political turmoil, complex situations and raging disease, the engineering contingent has overcome many difficulties and completed 39 engineering tasks and more than 10 emergency rescue tasks with high standards; the medical contingent received a total of 483 patients, carried out 174 operations, and undertook the COVID-19 nucleic acid testing and vaccination tasks. The two contingents were both highly praised by MONUSCO and the local people for their outstanding performance.
