Hero’s funeral given to UN peacekeeper killed in Mali
A Chinese peacekeeper killed while serving with the U.N. mission in Mali was given a hero’s funeral in his home province yesterday, underscoring the importance China attaches to its involvement in the global body’s peacekeeping work.
State media reports said thousands of people lined the streets along the route from the funeral home to the cemetery for national heroes where the ashes of 29-year-old 1st Sgt. Shen Liangliang were interred.
Shen was killed in a May 31 car bomb attack while on sentry duty at the peacekeepers’ base camp in the northern town of Gao. Five other peacekeepers were injured. His body was flown back to China on a chartered flight and greeted by an honor guard at Beijing airport.
China considers its participation in U.N. peacekeeping missions an important symbol of its global engagement and commitment to conflict resolution. It also views its participation as a useful means of upgrading the skill sets of personnel in the People’s Liberation Army and an excellent exposure to the logistical challenges of operating far from home. More than 2,400 Chinese peacekeepers are currently assigned to U.N. missions in Mali, Liberia and five other African nations.
The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali is asking for more troops, equipment, armor and aerial surveillance in the wake of deadly attacks by Islamic extremists that have killed at least seven Guineans, five Chadians and five Togolese in addition to Shen. AP
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This is sad but it will happen a lot.
This is the harsh realty of peacekeepers. Shitty job, you are mostly not allowed to do anything and you need a good reason to shoot back when you are under attack. The wonderful crappy world of the useless Peacekeepers, you are sent in conflicted regions, you don’t get to solve anything and you may end up killed in the process all that for some Human Rights bullshit propaganda for the UN.
Can’t believe China is coping with that now…
Be careful, if you do shoot back you may end up being blamed for trying to interfere with the internet affairs of a sovereign country and end up being punished by the UN itself.
Off course, they can commit a Genocide or 2 in front of you and you are just allowed to tell them they have been naughty, after all it’s their country and they can do whatever they want, even slaughter millions of their own people.
You should know the record by them.. sounds familiar I guess? 🙂
Enjoy the frustrating and unrewarding work of a useless peacekeeper.. if you do come back you will realize that after all, sending you didn’t make much of a difference and it was just for the show. It is most of the time the case. You aren’t going to solve any conflict and you are not even allowed to do it, the UN has no intention to solve things.. if they did these wouldn’t happen for long.