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People's Daily Online said:

The last detachment of China's peacekeeping infantry battalion left for South Sudan on April 7, 2015.

The 130 troops, dispatched by the Jinan Military Area Command, will join 570 compatriots who had been sent in the first three months of this year.

It is the last detachment of the country's first deployment of a full infantry battalion for a United Nations peacekeeping mission.

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| June 12, 2015 | [email protected] |

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This week, one of the Islamic State’s so-called “provinces” began to battle its jihadist rivals for control of Derna, Libya. The animosity between the two sides had been brewing for months.

Although some press reports claimed last year that Abu Bakr al Baghdadi’s men had taken over the entire city, other jihadist groups remain entrenched and are opposed to the Islamic State’s designs.

The Mujahideen Shura Council (MSC) in Derna, which was established in December 2014, is an alliance of several groups brought together to fight General Khalifa al Haftar’s anti-Islamist forces. But the MSC has served another purpose as well, acting as a barrier to the Islamic State’s expansionist plans.

Just weeks before the current fighting broke out, the MSC issued a “final warning” to Baghdadi’s men, describing them as “extremists.” The statement contained echoes from the conflict in Syria, where the Islamic State moved in behind its jihadist rivals to claim territory as they went off to fight the “tyrants.” The MSC blasted a Baghdadi follower, who used his sermon in a local mosque to criticize the “mujahideen” serving on the “front lines.” Baghdadi’s man, according to the MSC, claimed that the only legitimate authority in Derna is the Islamic State. This was a direct affront to all of the other jihadists fighting against Haftar.

The MSC and its constituent groups have consistently refused to join Baghdadi’s “caliphate.”

During a recent interview posted online, the MSC’s spokesman said his group would not join any “caliphate” that was formed without taking the necessary steps. He added that they did not recognize any caliph who comes to power without a proper shura [consultation] of Muslims — a reference to the fact that Baghdadi appointed himself the “caliph” without garnering the approval of his fellow jihadists. Al Qaeda and its allies have repeatedly made this same argument.

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