Sudan: Chinese peacekeepers not welcome in Sudan-Darfur rebels

(SomaliNet) The freshly arrived Chinese peacekeepers are not welcome and would be considered as Khartoum\'s allies in Sudan\'s war-ravaged western region, a major Darfur rebel group said on Sunday.

Meanwhile, China, which is the biggest buyer of Sudan\'s oil, has been accused of shielding Khartoum - accused of fanning the violence in Darfur - from international sanctions.

\"Our position is clear, the Chinese are not here for peace and they must leave immediately,\" Justice and Equality Movement commander Abdel Aziz el-Nur Asher told AFP by telephone the day after more than 100 Chinese engineers arrived in Darfur.

\"Otherwise, we will consider the Chinese soldiers as part of the government forces and we will act accordingly,\" said Asher, who is also a brother of JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim..
The Chinese arrived as part of the vanguard of a joint African Union-UN peacekeeping mission to be in place next year. A total of 315 Chinese engineers are expected in Darfur.

\"China is complicit in the genocide being carried out in Darfur and the Chinese are here to protect their oil interests in Kordofan,\" a region to the east of Darfur where JEM recently carried out an attack on an oil installation.

The 26 000-strong force is due to begin peacekeeping operations in Darfur early next year, tasked with ending nearly five years of bloodshed.

The force of mainly Africans will replace an under-funded and ill-equipped 7 000-strong African Union force that has served since 2004.

\"China is the biggest weapons supplier to the Sudanese regime and the weapons that we have captured in large quantities prove this. China supports Khartoum at the United Nations and its presence in Darfur can be considered an attempt to colonise our region,\" Asher said.

The UN said that the Chinese engineers will build roads and bridges, dig wells, and deploy a medical team.

Darfur rebels abducted five oil workers in an attack on a part Chinese-run installation in an oil field in Kordofan on October 23 but released them this month.

The JEM had already warned it would attack foreign oil companies and target Chinese firms in particular because they supply weapons to Khartoum.

Since February 2003, more than 200 000 people have died from the combined effects of war, famine and disease in Darfur region, while 2,2 million others have been left homeless.

The Sudanese government, while objecting to troops from Nepal, Scandinavia and Thailand, has welcomed the Chinese mission to Darfur. - Sapa-AFP