ROC-SUDAN: China gives $3.5m for AU mission in Darfur

Photo: Laudes Martial Mbon/IRIN

Congolese President Denis Sassou-Nguesso and Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao (left) at the Maya Maya International Airport in Brazzaville

BRAZZAVILLE, 21 June 2006 (IRIN) - The Chinese government has granted the African Union peacekeeping mission in Sudan's Darfur region a total of US $3.5 million in budgetary support and humanitarian emergency aid, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao has said. Making the announcement on Monday in Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo, during a two-day visit, Jiabao said the aid was to support the AU's efforts to resolve conflicts quickly. Some $1 million of the aid goes to the budgetary support of the AU mission. The $2.5 million humanitarian emergency is aimed at lessening the suffering of the local population, Jiabao added. Conflict has raged in Darfur, in western Sudan, in the past three years in a civil war pitting rebels against government-supported militia groups. An estimated 1.8 million Sudanese civilians have been displaced and 200,000 have fled across the border to Chad, to escape the violence. During his visit to Congo, Jiabao held talks with President Denis Sassou-Nguesso, who is also the current AU chairman. Saying that China was concerned about Africa's development, Jiabao said: "Our objective through this cooperation with Africa is to reinforce the capacity of Africa to have its own autonomous development. In cooperating with Africa, China is not looking for selfish gains. We are committed to two principles: equality, benefits both ways, and the non-interference in internal African affairs."