Violence in South Sudan Kills Two Chinese U.N. Peacekeepers
BEIJING—
claimed the lives of two Chinese U.N. peacekeepers, bringing to three the number of troops China has lost in the past two months as it ramps up its engagement in peacekeeping efforts.
Both of the Chinese peacekeepers were aboard an armored vehicle that was hit by a shell as it carried U.N. troops to a refugee camp, according to state media reports. One infantryman died on the spot and six others were injured in the incident, which took place in the South Sudan capital of Juba on Sunday evening local time, China’s defense ministry said in a short statement posted to its official feed on the Weibo social-media site.
One of the injured, a noncommissioned officer named Yang Shupeng, died from his wounds a few hours later, state broadcaster China Central Television reported. CCTV identified the first peacekeeper killed as Li Lei.
The U.N. said in a statement on Sunday that Chinese and Rwandan peacekeepers had been killed or injured in attacks; It didn’t offer details on fatalities or injuries.
Juba has been
. The fighting between soldiers loyal to President Salva Kiir and others allied with Vice President Riek Machar forced hundreds to take refuge at a U.N. base, the U.N. said earlier. The
have been trying to implement a power-sharing agreement since a peace deal last August formally ended the country’s two-year civil war.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement on Sunday that he was “shocked and appalled” by the fighting, noting that U.N. compounds had been caught in the crossfire.
“This senseless violence is unacceptable and has the potential of reversing the progress made so far in the peace process,” he said.
The troops were traveling to provide security at a refugee camp when their vehicle was hit, the Chinese Defense Ministry statement said.
“The Chinese military is deeply shocked by and strongly condemns the attack,” the statement said, adding condolences to the victims and their family members.
The loss of the two Chinese peacekeepers in South Sudan come after Shen Liangliang, a U.N. peacekeeper stationed in Mali, was killed in an attack on a U.N. camp on May 31 that wounded five other Chinese troops.
The three deaths, coming so close together, illustrate the increased risks faced by Chinese peacekeeping troops—particularly in volatile regions like Sudan and South Sudan—where Beijing has economic interests to defend. Under Chinese President
, the military has shifted from contributing noncombat personnel like engineers and medics to infantry and other combat units in part as a way to get the soldiers more experience with real-life combat situations, according to Gary Li, a military expert with consulting firm APCO Worldwide.
“They want to get more actively engaged. Unfortunately that brings you increased risks, because you’re going into the actual firing line,” Mr. Li said.
U.N. peacekeeping is a key area of Chinese engagement. The world’s most populous country ranks eighth in the number of police and troop contributions to U.N. peacekeeping operations, but its ranking is poised to rise following a pledge last year to build a peacekeeping standby force of 8,000 troops. Beijing has also said it would set aside part of a new $1 billion peace-and-development fund for peacekeeping missions.
China was the sixth-largest financial contributor to U.N. peacekeeping missions from 2013 to 2015, according to U.N. data. The U.S. was No. 1, accounting for 28.4% of the peacekeeping budget, but has dramatically scaled down troop contributions since the deaths of several U.S. soldiers in Somalia in 1993.
A total of 16 Chinese nationals had been killed while on U.N. peacekeeping missions before Sunday’s incident, according to U.N. data. That number includes four who were killed in the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that devastated Haiti in 2010.
China’s state-owned National Petroleum Corp. holds a 40% stake in a joint venture that operates in South Sudan’s vast oil fields.
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