By Liu Haipeng, Wu Xusheng and Yu Shenghang

SHENYANG, July 17 -- The servicemembers of the 8th Chinese peacekeeping troops to Mali attended the setting-out ceremony conducted by troops assigned to the PLA 79th Group Army on July 16, in blue berets and new-style combat camouflage uniforms.

The peacekeeping contingent, consisting of service members from the PLA 79th Group Army and No.967 Hospital under Shenyang Joint Logistics Support Center, were divided into guards, engineering and medical units.

In response to the geographical characteristics and mission requirements of the Mali mission area, the peacekeepers have made comprehensive preparations. For the possible security threats such as terrorist attacks, demonstrations, and car bombs in the preliminary combat training, they organized training and assessments around more than 100 practical subjects to ensure that they can effectively deal with such situations after arriving in the mission area. The medical contingent also managed to take more pandemic prevention materials than normal standard in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Mali.

The 8th Chinese peacekeeping contingent will go to Mali in two batches in late July and mid-August seperately. They will take task rotations with the 7th Chinese peacekeeping contingent and start the one-year peacekeeping mission.