The PRC Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed on Thursday 26 June that the remaining of the PLA’s 315-man strong UN peacekeeping force will be deployed to Darfur by mid-July.
At the request of the United Nations and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, the PRC decided to participate further in a hybrid force of the United Nations and the African Union.
In 2007, the PRC promised to send a 315-man engineering unit to Darfur. So far, only an advance team of 143 men had been deployed.
The PRC has also agreed to temporarily relocate some Chinese engineers and equipment involved in the UN peacekeeping mission in south Sudan to Darfur, to help the Chinese engineering units in Darfur build camping grounds and roads.
To cope with water shortages faced by the deployment of the hybrid force, the PRC was said to be ready to send more specialised troops and equipments to Darfur to drill wells.
