Sudan first vice-president to visit China

July 12, 2007 (BEIJING) — Sudan’s second-ranking leader, who has called for foreign peacekeepers to be sent to Darfur, will visit China next week for talks that will include the troubled region’s future, Beijing said Thursday.

First Vice President Salva Kiir will visit July 17-22 and hold talks with Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong and other leaders, foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said.

“They will discuss the enhancement of bilateral relations and other issues of common interest. I believe the Darfur issue will also be covered,” he said.

Kiir, who also heads the semi-autonomous government of south Sudan and the former Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) rebels, has long been at odds with President Omar al-Beshir’s National Congress Party over Darfur.

The Sudanese regime has been blamed for fueling a bloody conflict and ethnic cleansing campaign in the western region.

Kiir has been a strong advocate for intervention by an outside peacekeeping force, a position that has contributed to a wide rift with al-Beshir, who long resisted such moves.

Energy-hungry China is Sudan’s top oil buyer, but also a key weapons supplier to al-Beshir’s government, and has come under wide criticism for its cozy relations with the regime.

Beijing has consistently opposed efforts to exert more international pressure on the regime.

After a drawn-out effort, al-Beshir agreed last month to the future deployment of a joint African Union-UN peacekeeping force for Darfur.

At least 200,000 people have been killed in the region and two million driven from their homes since February 2003, according to the United Nations.

(AFP)