BEIJING, April 19 (Xinhua) -- China on Thursday
called for continued constructive efforts on the Darfur issue, but shrugged off
discussion of sanctions against Sudan.
U.S. President George W. Bush threatened on Wednesday
to beef up economic sanctions and impose new punishments if Sudan fails to take
concrete action to meet its obligations over Darfur crisis.
But China disagreed with the United States on the
sanctions, saying "it's not the right time to discuss sanctions".
"At present, more positive measures should be taken
to implement consensus that had been reached," said Chinese Foreign Ministry
spokesman Liu Jianchao at a regular news conference Thursday.
Liu said the UN, the African Union (AU) and the
Sudanese government have just reached full consensus on the second phase of
Annan plan, marking a positive and pleasing progress about the Darfur issue.
Sudan's UN envoy announced Monday that the Sudanese
government has approved the UN plan to send attack helicopters to support the AU
force in war-torn Darfur.
The UN, the AU and the Sudanese government agreed in
November last year on the three-phase support plan, also known as the Annanplan
as it was put forward by then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
With the first phase of the plan, a light support
package, already underway, the three parties reached an agreement in principle
in Addis Ababa on April 9 to inaugurate the second phase of a UN support plan
for the AU mission in Darfur, known as "the heavy support phase."
But the Sudanese government's opposition for the
deployment of attack helicopters in Darfur had blocked the scheduled
implementation of the second phase.
KHARTOUM, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The Sudanese
government denied on Thursday that it had made any concession on the
international peacekeeping force to be deployed in Darfur, reiterating that this
force should be African and under the African command.
"The international force to be in Darfur will be an
African force, commanded by the African Union and supported logistically and
financially by the United Nations," Sudanese Presidential Adviser Mostafa Osman
Ismail told reporters. Full story
KHARTOUM, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Sudan denied on Thursday a
media report that it had sent aircraft camouflaged with marking of the United
Nations (UN) to its troubled western Darfur region.
"This report is baseless and totally contradictory to the
principles of the Sudanese Armed Force (SAF) and its commitment to these
principles and the conventions it had signed," SAF spokesman Osman Mohammed
al-Aghbash told reporters. Full story
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