China ready to help for peaceful solution of Darfur crisis- envoy
February 24, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — Chinaese special envoy to Darfur on Sunday said he wanted to extend a “helping hand” towards solving the Darfur conflict, after criticism over Beijing’s role as Khartoum’s main arms supplier.
Liu Giujin arrived in Khartoum for top-level talks with Sudanese officials amid reports of fresh aerial bombings in western Darfur as the United Nations expressed grave concern for the safety of thousands of civilians.
“China is ready to cooperate with the government of Sudan, the United Nations, the AU (African Union), regional countries and all the other important stakeholders,” for a permanent solution to the conflict, Liu told reporters.
“For the Chinese government side, we’re ready to extend our helping hand,” he told a joint news conference with Sudanese Foreign Minister Deng Alor.
Noting some progress on the deployment of a joint UN-AU peacekeeping mission in Darfur, with only a third of military and police personnel deployed, Liu said remaining “technical kind of problems” should not be politicised.
“The Chinese government and people are ready to make our own positive and constructive contribution to the solution of the Darfur issue,” said Liu, calling for a “holistic effort” on Darfur and balanced media coverage.
Liu intends to visit Darfur on Tuesday, the day most experts consider the fifth anniversary of the conflict pitting ethnic African tribes against government-backed Arab militia over demands for resource and power-sharing.
China is Sudan’s main overseas supporter and arms supplier and has come under growing pressure to use its influence on the East African regime to end the bloodshed in Darfur, an area more than twice the size of Britain.
Activists have sought to pile the pressure on China as the world’s spotlight has increasingly turned on China ahead of the Beijing Olympics in August.
Hollywood film-maker Steven Spielberg this month resigned as an artistic consultant for the Games over Darfur, where the United States describes the conflict as the first genocide of the 21st century.
The Sudanese foreign minister told reporters that Khartoum did not want China to suffer for its close ties with Sudan.
“China is not directly involved in what is happening in Darfur,” said Alor, saying that Sudan was working on improving its relations with the West.
(AFP)