Chinese peacekeepers defuse stand-off with militants in South Sudan

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The Chinese peacekeepers in South Sudan have defused a tense situation as a group of armed militants tried to break into a restricted zone on Thursday local time, according to the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Daily.

“We heard two gunshots at around 4 p.m. and found a group of 15 unidentified people carrying rifles and pistols in the restricted area,” Lieutenant Yang Yongqiang of the Chinese peacekeepers at the United Nations compound in the capital Juba was quoted by PLA Daily on Saturday.

Yang, along with other 14 peacekeepers rushed to the scene as another 15 more militants also gathered together, with their weapons aimed at the peacekeepers, the PLA Daily said.

“The armed group fired in the air and they were pretty hostile,” Yang recalled. “The situation could easily lose control.”

The tense stand-off was eventually defused after serious convincing and negotiation, the militants agreed to leave the restricted area, according to PLA Daily’s report.

The first Chinese infantry battalion ahead of their deployment to South Sudan on December 22, 2014, Shandong Province / Xinhua Photo

In July 2016, two Chinese peacekeepers were killed when their vehicle was hit by a shell while guarding a refugee camp near the UN compound for displacing people in Juba, South Sudan.

China has been sending an infantry battalion to South Sudan since 2015, assisting UN peace mission in the war-torn country which includes protection of civilians, humanitarian workers and providing patrols as well as security escorts.

Yang is among the fourth batch of China’s 700-member infantry battalion to South Sudan, which was deployed in Juba in November 2017.

(Head photo via PLA Daily)

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