YANTAI, Aug. 30 -- The setting-out ceremony for the 9th Chinese peacekeeping force to Mali was held at the training ground of a brigade of the PLA 80th Group Army on August 26. After the ceremony, 212 peacekeepers of the first echelon took a special plane from Jinan Yaoqiang International Airport to the mission area in Mali, West Africa to perform a one-year peacekeeping mission.
The 9th Chinese peacekeeping force to Mali, which is based on the PLA 80th Group Army, is composed of 413 members, including a 210-member security contingent, a 140-member engineering contingent and a 63-member medical contingent. The peacekeepers in the security and engineering contingents are from the PLA 80th Group Army, while the medical contingent consists of service members from the General Hospital of the PLA Northern Theater Command.
According to the UN deployment, the security contingent will be responsible for sentry post guarding and patrol duty for the Headquarters of Sector East of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA). The engineering contingent will undertake the engineering construction tasks in the mission area including rush repair of roads and bridges, and renovation of airport runways and barrack facilities. And the medical contingent will take medical support tasks such as emergency rescue, surgical treatment, and evacuation of the wounded.
According to the plan, 201 peacekeepers of the second echelon of the 9th Chinese peacekeeping force to Mali will fly to the mission area from Jinan in late September.
