China seeks trouble-shooting resolution to Sudan crisis

A new resolution on Sudan should help defuse the crisis afflicting the African nation, rather than add further confusion to the already complicated situation there, top Chinese envoy to the UN said Thursday at the United Nations.

Speaking to reporters after receiving a fine-turned US draft threatening sanctions against Sudan, Wang Guangya, permanent representative of China to the world body, said the UN Security Council should move to help resolve the conflicts troubling the Darfur region in west Sudan.

"All of us agreed that there are problems in Darfur. I think what the Security Council should do is to try to find a formula for the solution to the problems," he said.

"What we hope to see in the draft resolution is that the measures taken by the Security Council can be helpful to find a solution, and will not impair the atmosphere, impair the delicate working relation now between the Secretariat and the Sudanese," he noted.

He said that China had "some difficulties" with the current draft, adding that he will continue discussions with the draft proposer.

In order to garner more support for its draft resolution on Sudan, the United States on Thursday circulated an amendment to a UN Security Council resolution threatening sanctions.

Instead of setting up a none-fly zone in the troubled Darfur region, the new draft urges the government of Sudan to "refrain from conducting" military flights "in and over" the Darfur region.

But the US maintains its threats on sanctions that may "affect Sudan's petroleum sector," if the government of Sudan fails to comply, "including failure to cooperate fully with the expansion and extension of the African Union monitoring mission in Darfur."

Despite opposition from certain council members, a spokesman for the US mission to the UN said they would stick with the plan to push for a vote on the draft resolution on Friday.

Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing exchanged views with US Secretary of State Colin Powell in a phone conversation Thursday night on how to properly handle the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan within the United Nations Security Council.

Li also briefed Powell on his recent visit to some Arab states.

In another development, China urges the United States to revise the UN draft on Darfur crisis and said that it will vote according to the revision, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan Thursday in Beijing.

The draft resolution is now under discussion and China hopes that the United States will listen to suggestions from all sides and make the revision, said Kong at regular press conference.

"We will make a final decision on our voting stance according to the revising of the draft," Kong said, when asked to comment on reports that China will veto the draft.

The Darfur crisis is a complicated issue, said Kong. Sudan has made progress and should be given more time for a proper settlement; sanctions will only complicate the situation.

Kong said the US should hear from the UN Security Council members, African Union and League of Arab States and revise its draft.

By People's Daily Online