CHINA:China is willing to play a more constructive role in Sudan's Darfur region, an envoy said after visiting the area, offering to provide more aid to victims of a conflict that critics accuse Beijing of ignoring.
China has a pivotal role in resolving the Darfur crisis as it buys two-thirds of Sudan's oil and sells it weapons and military aircraft. Western governments and human rights campaigners have accused Beijing of indirectly supporting genocide by rejecting UN forces without Khartoum's agreement.
Envoy Liu Guijin, who left Sudan on Wednesday after a five-day visit, said he hoped the Khartoum government would be more flexible in implementing a UN peacekeeping plan.
"The Chinese envoy expressed his government's willingness to play a more constructive role in Darfur and to provide more humanitarian and development help for the Darfurian people," a report on the Xinhua news agency said.
"The Chinese official hoped that the Sudanese side would show more flexibility on the implementation of a joint peacekeeping plan between the United Nations and African Union in Darfur. He also stressed the importance of accelerating the Darfur political process and making further improvement of the security and humanitarian situation in the region," Xinhua said.
As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China holds a veto over UN resolutions and has been urged to do more with its influence.
However, Beijing has sought to avoid appearing to put too much pressure on the Sudanese, warning that it could be counter-productive.
Beijing said this month it would commit 275 military engineers to a UN force to implement initial stages of the "Annan" peace plan, which involves bolstering African Union peacekeepers already in Darfur.
More than 200,000 people are believed to have died and at least 2.2 million have been driven from their homes since ethnic tensions erupted into revolt in 2003 in the western Sudanese province.
The Sudanese government is accused of unleashing militias known as the Janjaweed, which are blamed for the bulk of the conflict's atrocities, although Khartoum denies this.