UN Undersecretary-General for Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno praised on Monday China's "important and constructive role" in helping ending the crisis on Darfur, western Sudan.

China is playing a "very important and constructive role" in the UN Security Council to help bring a consensus to end the fighting in Darfur, Guehenno told reporters after meeting top European Union (EU) officials, including EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

"China sees how detrimental to Africa the continuation of the conflict in Darfur is," he said, noting that China has appointed a special envoy in demonstration of its willingness to push for peace in the war-torn region.

In May this year, the Chinese government appointed Liu Guijin as its special envoy for Darfur.

Guehenno expressed his belief that China, as a country with influence, could use its good relations with the government of Sudan to help push forward the efforts in finding a political solution and a negotiated agreement on Darfur.

Guehenno briefed Solana and other senior EU officials on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's recent trips to Chad, Sudan and Libya, and discussed with them the EU's plans to deploy a peacekeeping force to Chad, a neighbor of Sudan.

(Xinhua News Agency September 11, 2007)