Ethiopia’s PM urges Sudan dialogue to solve Darfur crisis

June 19, 2007 (ADDIS ABABA) — Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi vowed to support peaceful endeavors to solve the devastating crisis in Sudan’s Darfur region, the foreign ministry said in a statement Tuesday.

“The Darfur conflict could only be resolved by efforts of the Sudanese people and through peaceful political dialogue,” the statement quoted Meles as saying Monday, after a meeting with China’s special envoy to Sudan, Liu Guijin.

“The Ethiopian and Chinese governments promote a similar position for the peaceful resolution of the Darfur crisis,” the statement said, adding that Meles had also urged the international community to do its part.

A UN Security Council delegation said Sunday in Khartoum that it had secured the unconditional agreement of the Sudanese government for the deployment of a beefed-up peacekeeping force to Darfur.

Sudan’s long-awaited acceptance of UN peacekeepers to bolster the ill-equipped and cash-strapped 7,000-strong African Union force currently deployed in Darfur was seen as key to quelling the bloodshed there.

Sudan’s about-face ended months of deadlock that allowed violence to spiral and hampered relief efforts in Darfur, where at least 200,000 people have died since the conflict erupted in 2003, according to the United Nations.

In an interview with the Financial Times published Tuesday, Liu said his country — which is the leading foreign investor in Sudan — had used “very direct language” to persuade Khartoum to accept the UN’s peacekeeping package.

Sudan and Ethiopia share a long common border and bilateral relations have often been marked by mutual suspicion, but Meles has rarely spoken out on the issue of Darfur.

(AFP)