Advanced Search  
   
 
China Daily  
Top News   
Nation   
Business   
Opinion   
Feature   
Sports   
World   
Special   
HK Edition   
Business Weekly   
Beijing Weekend   
Supplement   
Shanghai Star  
21Century  
Manufacturers, Exporters, Wholesalers - Global trade starts here.
 
Feature ... ...
Advertisement
    Peacekeeper proves it mission possible
Li Fangchao
2005-05-27 05:44

HARBIN: Being pelted with stones, shot at and sidestepping dengue fever are all in a day's work for Han Liqiang.

Nevertheless, he said he was relieved to be back in China after touching down at Beijing International Airport recently.

"I feel that I am so lucky and so proud to live in a peaceful land," said Han who had just finished a six-month United Nations peacekeeping mission in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti.

He returned home last month to Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang Province in the northeast.

During the mission, Han and his colleagues were involved in guarding, patrolling, and cracking drugs cases, all the while in mortal danger.

"I narrowly escaped death," said the 34-year-old policeman from the Harbin Municipal Public Security Fire Brigade. "But it was a great honour to join the UN peacekeeping operation," he said.

Since the end of the 1980s, China has been joining in UN peacekeeping operations.

From military observers at the beginning to riot police now, China has been playing an important role in keeping the peace the world over.

Before the Haiti mission, China had been part of 11 peacekeeping operations, sending out more than 2,300 military staff and civil policemen, according to Xinhua News Agency.

And this was Han's second time with UN forces.

Four years ago he did a one-year stint with UN peacekeepers in East Timor, working as a police officer.

Han said that he was "very excited" when he heard the Public Security Ministry of China was recruiting police from all over the country to join the peacekeeping operation in East Timor in 2000.

"On top of the high salary, it was a great honour to join the UN mission," Han said. He handed in his application immediately.

After a process of tough training and elimination, he succeeded in becoming one of the final 34 from the 300 who started the course.

Han recalled that the exams were "extremely strict," and included driving, shooting and language tests.

He and his colleagues eventually arrived in East Timor on October 12, 2001, where Han was assigned to serve in the police station of Dili airport, the country's premier airport.

"One of the great difficulties we had to face was the number of tropical diseases which were rampant locally, such as dengue fever and malaria," Han said.

"Many of my colleagues caught dengue fever."

Life there was not easy. Han said they lived under great pressure every day. And he still remembers clearly the events of April 13, 2002 election day in East Timor. Han and six local policemen were assigned to guard a ballot station.

"Some 10,000 people were there that day and many guerrillas even came to the station with guns," he recalls.

"Luckily, no riots happened and the vote went smoothly," he said. "I felt as if a huge weight had been lifted when I handed the ballot box to the election committee."

Second mission

Never did Han expect that two years after the Timor trip he would be nominated by the Public Security Ministry to join peacekeeping operations in Haiti.

For the first time, China sent riot police as a Formed Police Unit (FPU) to join the mission in the Caribbean country.

On September 17, 2004, the first batch of 35 Chinese peacekeepers including Han arrived at Port-au-Prince.

Haiti, at the time, was in chaos due to the social unrest caused by the resignation, after a military coup, of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

The Chinese FPU was asked to help maintain security in the region of Cite Soleil an area of slums and noted for the worst public disorder in the capital.

Han and his colleagues had to quarter in a discarded warehouse without any sanitation facilities when they first arrived.

In order to create a better and safer environment, they decided to build a new barracks for themselves.

Han was put in charge of its design, the purchasing of construction materials and any liaison work.

During the 30-plus days it took to build the barracks, Han went out alone several times to buy construction materials.

Each journey through Cite Soleil could have been a "trip of no return," Han said.

Social order was non-existent in the area and armed gangs roamed the streets.

Confrontation and bloodshed were commonplace. Twenty-six local policemen were shot dead from the end of September last year to the start of this.

"I saw corpses lying in the middle of the road several times," Han said.

Later, he was assigned to lead the third squad when another 95 riot police joined them in October.

On January 16, the Chinese FPU were asked to reinforce the Jordanian FPU, which had engaged a group of gangs just outside Cite Soleil.

"We could see burnt cars and thick black smoke from a long distance on our way there," he said.

When they arrived, they saw just a hundred metres away a mob of about 300 people setting up roadblocks on the main road to Cite Soleil.

Covered by the Jordanian FPU, a Chinese armoured car approached the mob to clear the roadblock.

Han was the first to spring from the car and the moment his feet hit the road, he was showered with stones.

Han was struck on the arm and a number of his colleagues were hurt.

On seeing that more and more people were heading his way and out of fear the clash could escalate and lead to civilian casualties, Han ordered the use of tear gas.

The mob soon dispersed amid the choking clouds and the roadblock was cleared.

"The UN has strict rules of engagement," Han said, "It is not until the most critical moment that we can open fire.

"I felt glad that we did not use bullets that time."

"After all, life is the most precious thing," he added.

However, just a few days later, Han embarked on an even more dangerous mission.

On February 19, a group of gunmen broke into the national prison of Haiti, killed the guards and freed the prisoners. Many of the inmates fled to Cite Soleil.

For fear the freed inmates might whip up trouble, both the Chinese and Jordanian FPUs were immediately ordered to guard Cite Soleil's police station.

It was around midnight and already pitch black when they arrived at the station.

"The police station was already empty. The local policemen had fled when they heard about the riots in the prison," Han said.

Shortly after they had arranged some defences, they spied a suspicious jeep lurking in the area and after negotiating with the Jordanian commander, the Jordanian armoured car was dispatched to investigate.

When the Jordanian vehicle drew within 20 metres of the jeep, gunmen in the car opened fire.

The Jordanian armoured car responded in kind.

Shortly after the furious exchange, when everything had quietened down, Han and the Jordanian commander decided to go up and have a look at the bullet-riddled jeep.

Suddenly, from nowhere, someone began shooting at them.

The pair hit the ground and the rest of the FPUs immediately returned fire.

"Since it was pitch dark, we could not figure out their exact location," Han said.

"But nor could they (the gangsters) see us.

"But they heard our footsteps, I guess," he said.

They quickly withdrew under the covering fire from their fellow police.

It was a narrow escape for Han as he felt one of the bullets "whistle past his ear."

"I narrowly escaped the grip of the god of death," he said.

The peacekeeper is now on a lecture tour around the country telling the stories of his UN missions.

(China Daily 05/27/2005 page14)

                 

| Home | News | Business | Culture | Living in China | Forum | E-Papers |Weather |

|About Us | Contact Us | Site Map | Jobs | About China Daily |
 Copyright 2005 Chinadaily.com.cn All rights reserved. Registered Number: 20100000002731