Chinese President Hu Jintao on Thursday reiterated a call for the
international community to "seize favorable opportunity" and seek
to bring an end to the conflict in Darfur.
Hu spoke while meeting with Sudanese First Vice President Salva
Kiir Mayardit in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on
Thursday.
Hu encouraged the establishing of a solid peacekeeping and
political process, and for the Sudanese government to receive help
in improving the humanitarian and security situations in the Darfur
region.
"China will, as always, continue to play a constructive role,"
Hu said.
Hu said China appreciated the efforts made by Sudanese factions
to respect the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which was
signed on January 9, 2005 between the Sudanese government and the
rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM).
Not long ago, Hu said, the Sudanese government, the United
Nations and African Union (AU) had agreed to dispatch a hybrid
force to the Darfur region, a move widely welcomed by the
international community.
"Facts show that the trilateral talk among the Sudanese
government, the UN and the AU is an effective mechanism to solve
the Darfur issue," Hu said.
Mayardit said the Sudanese government remained fully committed
to settling Darfur through political dialogue.
"After the Abuja agreement, the rebel groups (in Darfur) are
splitting...now they have come to more than 10 groups. It is very
difficult to determine," Mayardit told a news briefing at the end
of his Beijing visit later Thursday.
The Darfur Peace Agreement has overseen all attempts to resolve
the Darfur issue, but only one rebel faction signed with the
Sudanese government in the Nigerian capital of Abuja in 2006.
"We will have a comprehensive peace in our country. Hopefully,
we will succeed in bringing on board those who have not signed the
peaceful agreement," Mayardit said.
He expressed gratitude for China for its peacekeeping and
humanitarian contributions to Sudan.
As president of the southern Sudan region, Mayardit called for
further Chinese investment in the area and vowed to safeguard the
security of Chinese there.
This was Mayardit's second visit to China, and his six-day visit
will see him take in the cites of China's financial center of
Shanghai and the southwestern city of Chongqing.
(Xinhua News Agency July 20, 2007)
