One hundred and eight Chinese soldiers left Beijing on Monday evening for the Democratic Republic of Congo to join the UN peacekeeping operation.  

The group is the fourth team China has dispatched to the African country. They will replace the third team, which consisted of 100 soldiers, and stationed there since last August.

The soldiers are all engineers well trained in such special skills as driving, machinery and construction engineering and landmine clearance, sources with the Ministry of Defense said. And a group of medical staff will join the team later.

China's forces provide mainly engineering, medical and transportation support for UN peacekeeping missions. China has contributed a total of 3,362 military personnel to 13 UN peacekeeping operations since its first dispatch of military observers in 1990, incurring six deaths.

So far, the Chinese forces have built about 1,200 kilometers of roads and 48 bridges, destroyed four batches of weaponry and provided medical services for more than 4,000 UN peacekeepers and local inhabitants.

(Xinhua News Agency April 19, 2005)