BEIJING, Sept. 9 -- On September 7, 109 members of the first echelon of the 26th Chinese peacekeeping force to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) departed from Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, for a one-year peacekeeping mission in Bukavu, South Kivu Province, DRC. The 26th Chinese peacekeeping force to the DRC consists of an engineering detachment and a medical detachment with a total of 218 persons selected from a brigade under the PLA Xizang Military Command and the General Hospital of the PLA Xizang Military Command.