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)
