China presses Sudan over Darfur peacekeepers
(Adds helicopter crashing)
By Opheera McDoom
KHARTOUM, Feb 24 (Reuters) - China, under international pressure to help end conflict in Darfur, made a rare call on its Sudanese ally on Sunday to do more to allow foreign peacekeepers to deploy to the region.
But there was no respite in the fighting and the United Nations said it feared for thousands of civilians after reports that Sudan's forces bombed a rebel-held area in western Darfur.
China's envoy to Darfur, in a departure from Beijing's usual public diplomatic vagueness, made an unusual rebuke to Khartoum during a visit there and urged Sudan to remove obstacles to full deployment of a joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force.
"Rolling out the hybrid peacekeeping operation and resolving the Darfur issue require the joint efforts of all sides," Liu Guijin told China's official Xinhua news agency.
"First, the Sudan government should cooperate better with the international community and demonstrate greater flexibility on some technical issues. Next, anti-government organisations in the Darfur region should return to the negotiating table."
China's role in Sudan has come under renewed attention since film director Steven Spielberg quit as an artistic director to the 2008 Beijing Olympic games, saying China had failed to use its sway in Khartoum to seek peace in Darfur.
China is a big investor in Sudan's oil industry and is its largest weapons supplier.
International experts estimate that 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million driven been from their homes since mostly non-Arab Darfur rebels took up arms five years ago.
Even as the Chinese envoy spoke, powerful Sudanese presidential assistant Nafie Ali Nafie rejected any notion of accepting non-African troops in the UNAMID peacekeeping force until all African soldiers have deployed to Darfur.
Western countries accuse Sudan of using conditions such as the composition of the force as delaying tactics. So far, just 9,000 of an eventual 26,000 peacekeepers are on the ground.
BOMBING REPORTS
The United Nations said on Sunday it had received reports of aerial bombing in the Jabel Moun area in western Darfur, a region where Sudan launched an offensive on Feb. 8 to retake rebel-held areas.
"We are gravely concerned for the safety of thousands of civilians in this area," the U.N. statement said.
Residents say at least 114 people have been killed in the offensive, but the army says many of those were rebels in civilian clothing. Thousands of people have fled the fighting, some into neighbouring Chad.
U.N. officials estimated some 20,000 people were in Jabel Moun. They said the bombing occurred in spite of assurances from Khartoum on Sunday that civilians would be allowed to leave the area. UNAMID was seeking similar assurances from the rebels.
"The risks at this stage to civilians are unacceptably high. The solution for Darfur's problems can never be a military one," the statement said.
The rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), meanwhile, said it had downed a helicopter north of el-Geneina in West Darfur on Sunday. Sudan's army said engine trouble caused the aircraft to crash land. It said the pilot escaped unharmed.
"The pilot tried to go back to el-Geneina when the second engine failed and the helicopter crash landed," the spokesman said, ruling out any rebel involvement.
The delays to deploying the UNAMID force mean it is struggling to live up to the high expectations of Darfuris that it will be do better to secure western Sudan than the previous force, from only the African Union.
Scandinavian units were refused entry by Khartoum and a Thai battalion is ready but still waiting for permission to deploy.
"What we ask now is that any talk of non-African troops stops until after the African troops have all been deployed," presidential assistant Nafie told reporters in Khartoum.
"Any attempt to talk about Khartoum's obstruction to the hybrid force or any talk about a lack of ability of African troops to accomplish the task of UNAMID is an attempt to create another crisis between Sudan and the international community."
He declined to say why Khartoum did not want non-African troops, but Sudanese officials have said Africa should be able to resolve its own problems and expressed suspicions about the intentions of former African colonialists.
Darfur rebels, who say they began their fight because of neglect by Khartoum, have requested European and U.S. troops in Darfur. Sudan says the Western media has exaggerated the conflict and puts the death toll at 9,000. (Additional reporting by Chris Buckley in Beijing, Editing by Matthew Tostevin and Mary Gabriel)
By Opheera McDoom
KHARTOUM, Feb 24 (Reuters) - China, under international pressure to help end conflict in Darfur, made a rare call on its Sudanese ally on Sunday to do more to allow foreign peacekeepers to deploy to the region.
But there was no respite in the fighting and the United Nations said it feared for thousands of civilians after reports that Sudan's forces bombed a rebel-held area in western Darfur.
China's envoy to Darfur, in a departure from Beijing's usual public diplomatic vagueness, made an unusual rebuke to Khartoum during a visit there and urged Sudan to remove obstacles to full deployment of a joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force.
"Rolling out the hybrid peacekeeping operation and resolving the Darfur issue require the joint efforts of all sides," Liu Guijin told China's official Xinhua news agency.
"First, the Sudan government should cooperate better with the international community and demonstrate greater flexibility on some technical issues. Next, anti-government organisations in the Darfur region should return to the negotiating table."
China's role in Sudan has come under renewed attention since film director Steven Spielberg quit as an artistic director to the 2008 Beijing Olympic games, saying China had failed to use its sway in Khartoum to seek peace in Darfur.
China is a big investor in Sudan's oil industry and is its largest weapons supplier.
International experts estimate that 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million driven been from their homes since mostly non-Arab Darfur rebels took up arms five years ago.
Even as the Chinese envoy spoke, powerful Sudanese presidential assistant Nafie Ali Nafie rejected any notion of accepting non-African troops in the UNAMID peacekeeping force until all African soldiers have deployed to Darfur.
Western countries accuse Sudan of using conditions such as the composition of the force as delaying tactics. So far, just 9,000 of an eventual 26,000 peacekeepers are on the ground.
BOMBING REPORTS
The United Nations said on Sunday it had received reports of aerial bombing in the Jabel Moun area in western Darfur, a region where Sudan launched an offensive on Feb. 8 to retake rebel-held areas.
"We are gravely concerned for the safety of thousands of civilians in this area," the U.N. statement said.
Residents say at least 114 people have been killed in the offensive, but the army says many of those were rebels in civilian clothing. Thousands of people have fled the fighting, some into neighbouring Chad.
U.N. officials estimated some 20,000 people were in Jabel Moun. They said the bombing occurred in spite of assurances from Khartoum on Sunday that civilians would be allowed to leave the area. UNAMID was seeking similar assurances from the rebels.
"The risks at this stage to civilians are unacceptably high. The solution for Darfur's problems can never be a military one," the statement said.
The rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), meanwhile, said it had downed a helicopter north of el-Geneina in West Darfur on Sunday. Sudan's army said engine trouble caused the aircraft to crash land. It said the pilot escaped unharmed.
"The pilot tried to go back to el-Geneina when the second engine failed and the helicopter crash landed," the spokesman said, ruling out any rebel involvement.
The delays to deploying the UNAMID force mean it is struggling to live up to the high expectations of Darfuris that it will be do better to secure western Sudan than the previous force, from only the African Union.
Scandinavian units were refused entry by Khartoum and a Thai battalion is ready but still waiting for permission to deploy.
"What we ask now is that any talk of non-African troops stops until after the African troops have all been deployed," presidential assistant Nafie told reporters in Khartoum.
"Any attempt to talk about Khartoum's obstruction to the hybrid force or any talk about a lack of ability of African troops to accomplish the task of UNAMID is an attempt to create another crisis between Sudan and the international community."
He declined to say why Khartoum did not want non-African troops, but Sudanese officials have said Africa should be able to resolve its own problems and expressed suspicions about the intentions of former African colonialists.
Darfur rebels, who say they began their fight because of neglect by Khartoum, have requested European and U.S. troops in Darfur. Sudan says the Western media has exaggerated the conflict and puts the death toll at 9,000. (Additional reporting by Chris Buckley in Beijing, Editing by Matthew Tostevin and Mary Gabriel)
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