LANGFANG, Hebei: The sixth unit of Chinese anti-riot police will leave Beijing in December for an eight-month UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti, senior police officers said on Wednesday.

The 125 police officers vowed to successfully complete their task and win honor for their country at a ceremony celebrating the third anniversary of the establishment of the first Chinese anti-riot police team in 2004.

The ceremony was held at the China Police Peacekeeper Training Center in Langfang, North China's Hebei Province.

The first 30 some members will leave at the end of next month as an advance team, and the rest will head for Haiti in early December to replace the fifth unit of Chinese anti-riot police there, Li Qin, commissar of the sixth team, said.

He said most of his members are border policemen from Southwest China's Yunnan Province, and all officers are now undergoing three to four months training at the center in Langfang, where they take classes such as language, computers, shooting, driving, geography, mine sweeping and human rights .

Li said although the UN started its peacekeeping task in Haiti in 1993, the country is still dangerous.

"However, we are resolved to surmount the difficulties and will successfully complete the task," a team member named Zhong Jianqin said.

According to the UN, there are at least 50,000 illegal guns in Haiti, and 31 people on UN task force have been killed in Haiti since July in 2004.

But no Chinese peacekeeper has ever sustained injuries or violated UN discipline on duty so far in Haiti, Vice-Minister of Public Security Meng Hongwei said while addressing the ceremony.

"They have won honor for our country. I'm proud of them," he said. "I hope the next team can achieve bigger success and make further contribution to world peace."

(China Daily 10/19/2007 page12)