By Wang Junjie and Qin Guijun

A group of Chinese peacekeepers were busy working on the red soil at an airport in Kuajok city, South Sudan. The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) currently has only one airport in normal operation in Kuajok city. The 14th Chinese Peacekeeping Horizontal Engineering Company to UNMISS undertook the mission of repairing and renovating the airport.

"Attention, a small airplane is about to land, watch out and keep clear." After receiving the warning from the commanding officer, the Chinese peacekeepers immediately stopped the operation of machines to avoid safety risks caused by floating dust to the landing airplane. A moment later, the airplane painted with the United Nations (UN) logo landed steadily. Several crew members from different countries exited the airplane and walked straight to the Chinese peacekeeping engineers.

"Thank you for your hard work, my friends!" A Kenyan pilot who had just completed his flight mission gave a thumbs-up to the Chinese peacekeepers.

Previously, there was no barrier ditch around the airport, so people and livestock walked through the airport randomly at times, posing threats to the take-off and landing of airplanes. A few days ago, when the Kenyan pilot was trying to land the airplane, a local citizen rode a motorcycle across the airport, almost causing an accident.

Upon receiving the mission of repairing and renovating the airport from UNMISS, the Chinese engineering contingent worked out the construction plan and organized technical specialists to start the construction work on site.

Due to the hot weather and harsh environment in the mission area, the road surface was extremely solid after long-time drought. If the excavators were forcibly used for digging, it would not only delay the progress, but also likely cause damage to the hydraulic parts. After collective study, the Chinese engineers softened the soil in the excavation area with water and divided the excavation work into consecutive sections, effectively accelerating the progress of the construction.

In addition to the excavation of the barrier ditch, Chinese peacekeepers took up the work of runway renovation. There was a lot of soil left after the barrier ditch excavation, but the soil contained too much grit in it so that it didn't meet the runway construction requirements.

Therefore, the Chinese peacekeeping engineers went far away from the airport to places like river banks to dig up soil with high viscosity and quality. Even though the scorching sunshine raised the temperature inside the construction machine cabs close to 50 degrees Celsius, they persevered with their work for a whole day.

The contingent was once assigned the mission of repairing the road from Turalei to Ajak-Kuac on the supply route connecting the states of Warrap and Unity of South Sudan. This road is an important route for the local people and plays a vital role in transporting supplies and providing humanitarian relief for UNMISS. Due to the high frequency of use and the impact of rain wash, the road had suffered much damageas exemplified by a lot of pits.

To ensure the progress of the mission, the Chinese peacekeepers left the barrack at 5:00 a.m. every morning and continued field work for nearly ten hours a day during that period. In construction, the peacekeepers observed that in some low-lying sections or areas near the river, the culvert pipes lost the drainage function due to blockage caused by tree branches and silt, as well as some collapsed points. If left unrepaired, the road would inevitably be soaked by rain water in the rainy season, thereby affecting the traffic and the road service life. Since the confined working space restricted the machine operation, a peacekeeper carrying his engineer shovel entered the culvert pipe with a diameter of only one meter and started to clear the pipe. Encouraged by his action, other members took over the work alternately and successfully completed the task.

The construction work passed the acceptance by UNMISS. It increased the traffic speed from 30 to 80 kilometers per hour, greatly facilitating the travel of the local people. When the Chinese engineers were on the way back after the task, the local people came to see them off and shook hands with them. They waved to the Chinese convoy and said "Thank you, Chinese peacekeepers!"