China's special envoy to Darfur Liu Guijin (L) meets with Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir (R) in Khartoum in 2009. Beijing wants a "credible" referendum on south Sudan's independence, and for a political solution to the Darfur conflict, Liu said on Sun.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
Published: 5/07/2010 at 01:38 AM
Online news: Asia
Beijing wants a "credible" referendum on south Sudan's independence,
and for a political solution to the Darfur conflict, Chinese envoy Liu
Guijin said on Sunday.
China's special envoy to Darfur Liu Guijin (L) meets with Sudanese
President Omar al-Beshir (R) in Khartoum in 2009. Beijing wants a
"credible" referendum on south Sudan's independence, and for a
political solution to the Darfur conflict, Liu said on Sunday.
China "hopes that the referendum on the self-determination of southern
Sudan will be transparent and credible, which is in the interests of
Sudan and serves the stability of the region," Liu told reporters in
Khartoum.
"China wishes to cooperate with the north and south," the special
envoy to Darfur said after talks with Sudan's minister for cabinet
affairs, Luka Biong Deng.
The Chinese envoy stressed Beijing was in favour of the unity of
Africa's largest country.
Southerners are to vote in a January 2011 referendum that could lead
to the independence of South Sudan, which has vast and largely
untapped natural resources, including oil.
The referendum is a central plank of a 2005 peace agreement that ended more than two decades of war between Sudan's north and south.
China, the top destination for Sudanese oil exports, is a strategic
ally of President Omar al-Beshir, who is wanted by the International
Criminal Court for Darfur war crimes.
"The only way to solve the Darfur problem is a political process," Liu
said after meeting with Ghazi Salaheddin, Beshir's adviser on the
Darfur issue.
On Monday, the Chinese envoy is due to visit El-Fasher, the capital of
North Darfur, for a high-level meeting with Russian envoy Mikhail
Margelov, European officials and United Nations and African Union
mediator Djibril Bassole.
US envoy Scott Gration will not be present at the meeting in
El-Fasher, but the United States will still be represented, according
to diplomatic sources.
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