Visiting Special Envoy of the Chinese Government for Darfur, Liu Guijin, held on Tuesday and Wednesday a series of talks with Sudanese officials on the situation in the western Sudanese region of Darfur.

 

The Chinese envoy held the talks with Sudanese Presidential Assistant Nafie Ali Nafie, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Ali Ahmed Kerti and other senior Sudanese officials.

 

During the meetings, the two sides exchanged views on the deployment of a hybrid peacekeeping force of the United Nations and the African Union in Darfur, the political process for realizing peace in the region as well as other problems.

 

Liu said the Darfur issue was developing generally towards a positive direction in spite of some difficulties.

 

He hoped that the upcoming negotiations between the Sudanese government and the Darfur anti-government movements in Libya's Sirte on Saturday would achieve positive results and make the political process to realize tangible progress.

 

The Sudanese side welcomed the visit of the Chinese envoy, and highly praised the efforts exerted by the Chinese government to push the political process in order to find a proper solution for the Darfur issue.

 

They hoped that the Chinese side would play a bigger role in pushing the Darfur political process, expressing their keenness to cooperate with the international society in order to realize the peace and economic development as soon as possible.

 

The Chinese envoy arrived in Khartoum on Tuesday on a three-day visit in Sudan, which is his third visit since he was appointed to the present post in May this year.

 

After the visit in Sudan, the Chinese envoy will fly to Libya to attend the inaugural session of the peace negotiations between the Sudanese government and rebel movements in Darfur.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 25, 2007)