China on Sunday called for pushing forward the ongoing political
process in resolving the Darfur issue in the Sudanese western
region.
Foreign Ministry official Song Aiguo made the call in a two-day
multipartite meeting on Darfur which ended earlier on Sunday in
Tripoli, according to news reports reaching Cairo from the Libyan
capital.
Speaking at the meeting, Song, who led the Chinese delegation to
the meeting, explained China's stance on the Darfur issue and its
efforts in solving the problem, saying all concerned parties should
push forward political process and the peacekeeping action in
Darfur.
The meeting, called for by Libya, gathers Sudan's Foreign
Minister Lam Akol, special Darfur envoys from the United Nations,
the African Union, the United States, the European Union and
Britain, and senior officials or ministers from France, China,
Canada, Egypt, Norway, Russia, Chad and Eritrea.
Song also called on the international community to provide more
assistance to Darfur to improve the humanitarian situation there in
order to help realizing peace, stability and development in the
Sudanese region.
The multipartite meeting, which started on Saturday night,
reconfirmed Sunday support for the three-phase support plan agreed
by the UN, the AU and the Sudanese government on the deployment of
a hybrid AU-UN peacekeeping force in November last year, also known
as the Annan plan as it was put forward by then UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan.
The major players in the meeting also expressed "grave concern"
over the situation in Darfur, urging all conflicting parties in the
Darfur region to immediately cease hostilities and act upon their
commitment to uphold a ceasefire.
Sudan is under mounting international pressure to approve the
deployment of UN peacekeepers in Darfur as the United States and
Britain had threatened to propose new sanctions if Khartoum fails
to accept a full joint UN-AU peacekeeping force.
(Xinhua News Agency April 30, 2007)
