BEIJING, April 18 (Xinhua) -- China will dispatch 395 peacekeepers in May to Mali for one year on a UN mission.

Officially formed on Wednesday, the battalion will be China's sixth batch of peacekeepers to be deployed in Mali.

It consists of a 170-person guard unit, 155 sappers and a medical unit of 70.

They will take on tasks such as repairing roads, bridges and runways in mission areas, protecting the headquarters in war zones, and treating the sick and wounded.

Among the 395 peacekeepers, a chemical defense brigade has been on the peacekeeping mission in South Sudan five times, and nearly 100 officers and soldiers have conducted peacekeeping missions more than twice.