BEIJING, March 12 (Xinhua) -- A group of 100 Chinese peacekeepers dispatched to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) returned home on Wednesday.

The peacekeepers, consisting of 80 engineers and 20 medical staff, belonged to a group of 218 peacekeepers, the seventh batch of Chinese that had been dispatched to the DR Congo in June 2007.

The other 118 peacekeepers returned home on March 1. All of the seventh batch were awarded honorary military decorations for peacekeeping by the United Nations before coming home.

The 80 engineers arrived in Xi'an in the northwest Shaanxi Province and the medical staff in Urumqi, capital of the northwest Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The seventh batch of peacekeepers to the DR Congo carried out an eight-month mission of building roads, bridges and houses in the country. They also helped local citizens with first aid, medical transport and epidemic prevention.

A replacement of 218 peacekeepers for the seventh batch arrived in the DR Congo at the end of last month and had started to implement duty independently.

China first participated in U.N. peacekeeping missions in the DR Congo in 2003. To date, it has sent eight batches of peacekeepers to the African country.

Source: Xinhua