China has stationed a company of blue helmet troops in South Sudan, to help ex-combatants in the world's youngest country resume their civilian life.

The 275 Chinese military sappers are stationed in Wau, the third largest city in South Sudan, following UN deployment.

South Sudan broke away from Sudan in 2011 following a referendum, in which the Christian majority in South Sudan sought independence from the Muslim Sudanese government.

United Nations Development Program (UNDP) statistics show that 162 thousand South Sudanese combatants abandoned the fighting after the civil war ended. The UN agency planned three Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) centers to help rehabilitate retired soldiers. The construction work was appointed to Chinese soldiers.

In April of this year, the first DDR center opened in South Sudan.

It served as a training center for some 400 ex-militants to work and learn new skills.

Rebik Aken, who attended sewing courses, expressed her gratitude to the Chinese peacekeepers. "I never thought my life would be like this. Now I have food and enough income to feed my family," she said.

"I am delighted to see the Chinese peacekeepers here. China has been actively supporting the UN peacekeeping operations," said Dmitry Titov, UN Assistant Secretary-General for the Rule of Law and Security Institutions in the Department of Peacekeeping Operation, while inspecting the center.

His words reflect the hard work of the Chinese peacekeeping troops, often in the places where it is most needed. Besides DDR centers, the Chinese blue helmets also helped build a bus station in Wau, as well as freeways between cities and an airport runway. These construction projects all received prizes from the U.N.

Rizik Zachariah Hassan, Governor of South Sudan's Western Bahr el Ghazal state, also showed his support for the Chinese peacekeepers. "They enhance the friendship between South Sudan and China through their real efforts. I will be conveying my appreciation to the Chinese embassy in due course," he said.

As well as being contracted for construction projects, Chinese peacemakers also serve as medics and cultural workers.

The recovery efforts in post-war South Sudan require much more time, and assistance from the international community. South Sudan's independence made it a landlocked country. Already scarce in natural resources, its only endowment, oil, will only last at most another 15 years.

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