Riot police to join Liberia peacekeeping mission

China will deploy a riot police squad to join a UN peacekeeping mission in Liberia, said the Ministry of Public Security on Thursday.

It will be the first time China has sent riot police officers to Africa.

The 140-member police squad will set off to Liberia in September, according to a ministry statement.

They were selected from field police officers in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province and passed the examination of the UN on July 7 after three months of special training.

China has already sent 1,789 police officers to serve in UN peacekeeping missions since 2000.