Chinese envoy to Darfur wants Sudan to show more ‘flexibility’

May 24, 2007 (BEIJING) — China’s newly appointed special envoy dedicated to the Darfur crisis wants Sudan to do more to help put a peacekeeping plan in place in the war-ravaged region, a Chinese Foreign Ministry official said Thursday.

Liu Guijin, who took up the newly created post of Special Representative to African Affairs earlier this month, just wrapped up his first visit to Darfur.

“He hopes that Sudan can exert more flexibility in the implementation of the Annan plan so as to press ahead with the political process of the Darfur region and further improve the humanitarian and security situation in Darfur,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said at a regular news briefing.

The United Nations and Sudan agreed in November on a plan backed by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan for the incremental deployment of a joint African Union-U.N. force of 20,000 peacekeepers.

But Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has since backed off the deal, saying he would allow only a larger AU force with technical and logistical support from the U.N.

Liu’s post was announced as China, a veto-wielding member of the U.N. Security Council, faces international pressure to do more to resolve the conflict and the possibility of an Olympic boycott if it fails to act.

He met with Sudan’s vice president and other government officials and toured two refugee camps in Darfur during his five-day trip that ended Wednesday.

While in Sudan, Liu warned against threatening Khartoum with sanctions over the Darfur crisis and said confrontation would only prolong the suffering in the region, the official Sudanese news agency reported.

At least 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million driven from their homes since the conflict erupted four years ago between ethnic African rebels and the Arab-dominated central government.

China has been widely accused of not doing enough on Darfur, given that it buys two-thirds of Sudan’s oil exports and sells the Khartoum regime weapons and military aircraft. As a permanent member of the Security Council, China has also blocked efforts to send U.N. peacekeepers to Darfur without Sudan’s consent.

(AP)