Chinese peacekeeping riot police in Haiti left for home Saturday
aboard a UN-chartered plane after successfully completing their
six-month mission in the crisis-torn country, according to news
dispatches from Port-au-Prince, capital of Haiti.
The 95 members are the second batch of 125-member of Chinese
peacemaking police to leave Haiti. The first batch left on April
2.
Before their departure, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's
special representative in Haiti Juan Gabriel Valdez highly
evaluated the performance of Chinese peacekeeping police during his
meeting with Zhao Xiaoxun, head of police detachment and other
officers.
The 125-member force, which includes four women, on a six-month
mission, has supported the international peacekeeping presence,
assisted and trained local police in law enforcement, as well as
dealt with mass public security emergencies.
The police have been awarded a UN peace medal for their
outstanding performance in January, the highest honor granted by
the UN to peacekeeping missions.
David Bill, head of the UN police in Haiti, had said at January
's ceremony at the Chinese camp that the Chinese police officers
have made great contribution to securing social order and
protecting the life and property of the Haitian people.
The Chinese team is highly disciplined and brave, setting a good
example for all the peacekeeping police teams there, he added.
Some 6,000 UN peacekeeping troops and 1,400 UN police have been
deployed in Haiti to help stabilize the situation in the Caribbean
country ahead of the presidential elections scheduled for November
and December.
This batch of police are replaced by another 95 Chinese
peacekeeping police, who arrived at Port-au-Prince on the same day,
and a contingent of 30 arrived the camp in Haiti on April 4.
Starting from 1999, China has contributed more than 400 civilian
police officers to UN missions in East Timor, Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Kosovo of Serbia and Montenegro, Afghanistan, Liberia and
Haiti.
(Xinhua News Agency April 17, 2005)