China on Wednesday said it could not tolerate criticism from any
party for its participation in peacekeeping missions in the Darfur
region of Sudan, and opposes any public threat made against the
security of its peacekeepers there.
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Qin Gang made the remarks on
Wednesday morning when asked to comment on the threat from the
Sudanese Justice and Equality Movement(JEM), an anti-government
armed force, to take action against Chinese peacekeeping forces if
China does not withdraw its peacekeeping personnel from the
country.
In April, China agreed to send a multi-functional engineering
unit to Darfur at the request of the United Nations. The first such
unit was set up on June 13 consisting of 315 people.
A 135-strong advance troop of the Chinese engineering unit
arrived in the South Darfur State capital of Niyala last week.
It is reported that the JEM declared it does not welcome nor
allow the Chinese peacekeeping unit to enter areas under its
control, ordered immediate withdrawal of the unit and threatened to
take actions if China fails to do so.
Qin said China decided to send a 315-strong multi-functional
engineering unit to Darfur at the invitation of the U.N. and the
unit is gradually being deployed at the request of the U.N..
The engineering unit will mainly engage in missions including
building roads, bridges, and digging wells in addition to some
other projects in preparation for the deployment of U.N.-A.U.
(African Union) hybrid-mission peacekeepers from other
countries.
China will continue to make unremitting efforts to promote the
peace process in Darfur, Qin added.
Qin stressed that China's participation in peacekeeping in
Darfur reflected China's constructive role in pushing forward a
proper settlement of the Darfur issue, and was conducive to local
peace, stability, restoration and improvement of local people's
livelihood, and was welcomed by the whole international
community.
"China finds it hard to understand and will not tolerate
criticism of its participation in peacekeeping in Darfur, let alone
any public threatening of the security of its peacekeepers," Qin
noted.
The security of U.N. peacekeepers, including Chinese
peacekeepers, must be guaranteed, Qin said.
China hoped those anti-government armed forces in Darfur who had
not yet signed the Darfur Peace Agreement should join the peace
process and take concrete actions to realize local peace, stability
and development as early as possible.
China's engineering unit is the first batch of the U.N.
peacekeepers arriving in the region to implement U.N. Security
Council Resolution 1769 adopted on July 31, which authorizes the
deployment of a 26,000- strong, hybrid peacekeeping force in
Darfur.
(Xinhua News Agency November 28, 2007)
