BEIJING, Aug. 14 -- Approved by the Central Military Commission (CMC), the first echelon of 110 members of the 16th Chinese peacekeeping engineer contingent to Darfur left Beijing Capital International Airport on the evening of August 11 for their mission area in Sudan to perform its 5-month peacekeeping mission.

The 16th Chinese peacekeeping engineer contingent to Darfur includes the engineering support team, logistic support team, security squadron and a primary hospital and is consisted of 225 members. They mainly come from a brigade of the 82nd Group Army under the PLA Central Theater Command.

As the only engineering and support force of the UN-African Union Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID)in the region, the Chinese peacekeeping engineer contingent is mainly responsible for maintenance and upgrade of main roads, infrastructure construction, and prefabricated houses assembly, construction and maintenance of airports and aprons, and other tasks.

"After nearly five months of hard training, the contingent not only has the capability to support engineering, but also the capability to deal with various emergencies. The contingent is currently in good condition and we are full of confidence in completing this peacekeeping mission," said Xiao Wei, commander of the 16th batch of Chinese peacekeeping engineer contingent to Darfur.

According to the plan, the second echelon of the 16th batch of Chinese peacekeeping engineer contingent to Darfur will depart from Beijing to the mission area in late August. It is also reported that the 15th Chinese peacekeeping engineer contingent to Darfur will return to China in two echelons after completing the task handover.