China's UN Ambassador Wang Guangya said Tuesday that China
continues to advocate a political settlement to the issue of
Darfur.
Addressing the UN Security Council, Wang said a political
settlement to the issue of Darfur should be reached through
dialogue and consultations on the basis of respect for Sudan's
sovereignty and territorial integrity.
"China supports the dual track strategy of pushing forward
political negotiation and peacekeeping deployment in a balanced
manner, and looks forward to the central leading role to be played
by tripartite mechanism by involving the government of Sudan, the
African Union and the United Nations," Wang said.
The Chinese ambassador said the facts have proven that such
strategy and mechanism are right approaches to resolve the Darfur
issue and have already achieved significant results.
He also said deploying the peacekeeping troop is the unanimous
decision of the UN Security Council, "which embodies the common
understanding of the entire international community."
"China is seriously concerned over recent remarks made by some
rebel groups threatening the safety and security of peacekeepers,"
he said, adding that "we urge them to follow the general trend of
the international situation, cooperate with the united nations, and
not to go further in the wrong direction."
The vanguard of the Chinese engineering units arrived in the
western Sudanese region of Darfur on Saturday to take part in the
hybrid peacekeeping force of the UN and the African Union (AU).
This is the first batch of the UN peacekeepers to arrive in the
region to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1769 adopted on
July 31, which authorized the deployment of a 26,000-strong hybrid
peacekeeping force in Darfur.
Darfur rebels have threatened that as "allies" of the government
in Khartoum, the 135 Chinese peacekeepers are not immune from
attack.
The UN Security Council held an open debate on Wednesday
afternoon to discuss the war-torn region of western Sudan.
?
(Xinhua News Agency November 28, 2007)
