They came, they met, they agreed that more must be done, but a gathering aimed at solving the crisis in Sudan's Darfur region ended on Monday with little visible progress.
"We really must redouble our efforts and I think that [this] was the spirit of today's conference," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said at a brief news conference after the day of closed meetings. "The point here was to take stock of where we are and to make sure that we are doing everything we can."
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said the delegations from 18 countries -- including Sudan's major donors, the G8 and China -- had reaffirmed their support for a joint African Union (AU) and UN peacekeeping force as outlined in a deal reached with the Sudanese government this month.
"There is a little light at the end of the darkness," Kouchner told reporters.
But there was no announcement of which countries would contribute soldiers, nor was there any signal that China had softened its resistance to levying sanctions on Sudan, a measure that would require Chinese acquiescence to win approval from the Security Council.
China is a staunch ally of Sudan and major buyer of its oil.
France said it would contribute about US$13.5 million to help finance the peacekeeping force. It has spent about US$3.4 million on aid to Darfur so far this year and about US$5.25 million last year, UN figures showed. The EU promised to spend an extra US$42 million for humanitarian aid in the coming months.
Since early 2003, Arab militias known as janjaweed have been raping and killing non-Arabs in Darfur, ostensibly as part of the Sudanese government's effort to suppress a rebellion there. The administration of US President George W. Bush has labeled the violence genocide, but the limited AU peacekeeping force there has been unable to curb it. The situation has grown increasingly chaotic as rebel groups and the militias splinter off into factions, making for a multi-layered, confusing conflict.
The AU and the UN hope to get all factions to sit down for peace talks in August. China's special envoy, Liu Guijin (劉貴今), told reporters on Monday that Sudan was ready to take part in such talks.
But delegates said that with more than a dozen armed groups operating in the region, negotiating peace would be difficult.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was