On June 25, 2007, the Ministerial Meeting of the Enlarged International Contact Group on Darfur opened in Paris. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui headed a Chinese delegation for the meeting, which was also attended by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, foreign ministers or vice foreign ministers of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia and Egypt, and the representatives from the League of Arab States (LAS), the World Bank, African Development Bank and other international organizations. The participants discussed a number of issues including the political process, the humanitarian and security situation, and the reconstruction process in Darfur as well as the regional influence of the Darfur issue.
Zhang said that the United Nations, the African Union and the Sudanese government reached agreements on the deployment of hybrid peacekeeping forces in Darfur on June 12. The Sudanese government clearly expressed their unconditional acceptance of the third phase of the Annan Plan, indicating that major progress has been made in the peacekeeping operations in Darfur and the tri-party coordination among AU, UN and Sudan is very effective. With the concerted efforts of all parties concerned in the past, certain progress has been made with the political process in Darfur. But generally speaking, the political process in Darfur lags behind the peacekeeping operations, which is detrimental to the comprehensive and lasting solution of the issue.
Zhang said that China appreciates and supports the roadmap recently proposed by Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Darfur Jan Eliasson and Coordinator of the African Union (AU) to Sudan Salim Ahmed Salim. We call on the parties concerned to work on the opposition parties to join the peace process at an early date. The implementation of the roadmap is currently in a critical stage. Exerting pressure and imposing sanctions would convey misleading messages. This is not good for establishment of mutual trust between the Sudanese government and the opposition parties and would make it more difficult to resolve the issue.
Zhang stressed that China is committed to finding a proper solution to the Darfur issue. China has made vigorous efforts to promote the peace talks, offered multiple humanitarian assistances to Darfur and decided to dispatch a multi-function engineering unit to Darfur. China will keep playing a constructive role in resolving the issue and work together with the international community to realize peace, stability and development of Darfur at the earliest possible date.
