Sudan denies Chinese pressure on Darfur

Feb 5, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Chinese President Hu Jintao did not pass on US demands over the crisis in Darfur during his visit to Khartoum, Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir said in an interview published Monday.

“The Chinese president did not convey any US demands on the situation in Darfur during his recent state visit to the Sudan,” Beshir told the independent Al-Sudani daily.

Beshir said that during their meeting last Friday, Hu had asked him to “continue implementing the Abuja agreement and working to improve the situation on the ground”.

The Khartoum government reached a peace deal in May 2006 in Abuja but it was only endorsed by one rebel faction and has since failed to curb escalating violence in the western Sudanese region.

Hu “renewed his commitment to offering full support to my government to enable it to implement its declared Darfur programme, particularly after he was briefed on our position which advocates dialogue and a peaceful settlement”.

Observers had voiced hope that China — which absorbs almost two-thirds of Sudan’s oil output and has repeatedly protected Beshir’s regime from UN sanctions — could turn up the heat on Khartoum over Darfur.

“Our conviction is that China has never been and will never be a tool for US pressure on Sudan,” Beshir told Al-Sudani.

Washington — which accuses the Sudanese regime of genocide in Darfur — sent envoy Andrew Natsios to Beijing last month to seek increased diplomatic coordination with Khartoum’s key ally.

According to the United Nations, at least 200,000 people have been killed and more than two million displaced since the war between Darfur rebels and government forces erupted four years ago.

Hu arrived in Namibia on Monday on the fifth leg of an eight-nation tour of mineral-rich Africa aimed at cementing trade deals for China’s energy-hungry economy.

(AFP)