The Chinese peacekeeping engineering contingent in Darfur was awarded medal of honor for peace by the joint UN-AU peacekeeping mission (UNAMID) in Nyala, capital of South Darfur State of Sudan, on Saturday.

It was the first time that the UNAMID conferred medal of honor on a peacekeeping unit since the UNAMID was set up on Jan. 1, 2008.

UN Under-Secretary-General Alain Le Roy highly praised China's contributions to world peace and expressed gratitude to the Chinese peacekeepers in Darfur for their outstanding performance.

Rodolphe Adada, joint UN-AU special representative to Darfur, Gen. Martin Luther Agwai, commander of UNAMID, also attended the ceremony.

The first group of Chinese peacekeeping contingent arrived in Darfur on Nov. 24, 2007. The second group arrived there on July 17,2008, marking the completion of deploying the Chinese engineering unit to the war-torn region.

(Xinhua News Agency October 13, 2008)