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Members of the Chinese peacekeeping troop line up after arriving at Beirut International Airport in Beirut, capital of Lebanon, March 31, 2006. The first contingent of 80 soldiers of the Chinese peacekeeping engineer battalion arrived in Lebanon on March 31, the first Chinese peacekeeping mission serving in the Middle East. [Xinhua Photo]
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Members of the Chinese peacekeeping troop line up after arriving at Beirut International Airport in Beirut, capital of Lebanon, March 31, 2006. [Xinhua Photo]
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An 80-strong Chinese engineering troop left for Lebanon on Friday morning on a UN peacekeeping mission.
The dispatch, leaving on a UN-chartered flight, is part of a 182-strong Chinese army, composed of a landmine clearing company, an engineering company, a logistics company, and staff of a first-class hospital, that was set up on February 28 for UN peacekeeping mission.
According to a source with the peacekeeping office of the Defence Ministry, the troop had been given intensive training on basic UN peacekeeping knowledge, language abilities, manners and etiquette, as well as the culture and law of Lebanon.
Their preparation efforts were praised by senior UN officials for peacekeeping missions in Lebanon, the source said.
The other 102 military personnel will take off in April, the source said, while the dispatch's weapons, medical care, and daily supplies had already been shipped to Lebanon two days ago.
The engineering troop, subject to orders from a temporary UN peacekeeping headquarters in Lebanon, will be located in the southern suburbs of Lebanon to work on landmine clearing and the construction of roads, buildings, parking aprons and defence facilities.
They will also be in charge of providing humanitarian assistance for the region, the source said.
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