US envoy praises Chinese role in Darfur
September 19, 2007 (WASHINGTON) — The United States’ envoy to Sudan said on Wednesday that China has begun to play a “constructive” role in the troubled Darfur region, in a shift from earlier criticism that Beijing was not working for peace there.
Special Envoy Andrew Natsios, who in February urged China to step up diplomatic pressure on Khartoum, said China is now playing an important behind-the-scenes role to go along with its more visible peacemaking efforts.
“I am very happy with the role the Chinese are playing,” Natsios said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank. “It is a constructive role.”
Natsios in February criticized Beijing for signing economic deals with the Sudanese government and not pressuring it over Darfur.
Western politicians and rights groups have accused China of abetting bloodshed in Darfur by maintaining big investments in Sudanese oil, selling Khartoum arms that end up in Darfur, and fending off stronger U.N. Security Council resolutions.
China has been working to prevent Darfur from becoming a blot on its diplomatic record ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Beijing has claimed credit for persuading Khartoum to accept a planned 26,000-strong hybrid U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force for Darfur. Beijing also will send more than 300 engineering troops in October to help prepare for the main force.
An estimated 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have fled their homes in Darfur since mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms against the government in the vast western region in 2003.
Khartoum mobilized proxy Arab militia to help quell the revolt. Some of the militiamen pillaged villages and killed civilians but the government denies supporting them.
Peace talks are scheduled in Libya on Oct. 27. Natsios said the rebel groups must reach common ground and settle on realistic goals before then.
Fighting among Arabs over land abandoned by Africans poses an additional risk, he said.
“I am more optimistic now than I have been in a long time, but it is a guarded optimism,” he said.
(Reuters)