US urges China to pressure Sudan on UN force

NEW YORK, Sep 18 (Reuters) US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice strongly urged China today to use its influence to persuade Sudan to allow a UN force to deploy in the war-torn Darfur region.

Rice made her appeal in a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, where the crisis in Darfur is a key topic this week.

''The secretary (Rice) urged the Chinese to do everything that they could do to convince Sudan to allow in the international force,'' said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack after the meeting.

Li told Rice he planned to meet Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in New York this week to press the case.

''He (Li) said that he would work to persuade the Sudanese to comply with UN Security Council resolutions,'' McCormack said.

China, which buys Sudanese oil and sells it arms, abstained along with Russia and Qatar on last month's Security Council resolution authorizing a UN deployment in Darfur pending the government's consent.

Western leaders, some African presidents and aid groups are piling pressure on Bashir to accept a UN resolution to deploy more than 20,000 UN peacekeepers to Darfur to replace 7,000 African Union troops whose mandate expires on September 30.

Some UN diplomats believe that Bashir would not respond to pressure from the West but might listen to China as well as Arab neighbors, who so far have supported Khartoum.

The humanitarian situation has deteriorated sharply in recent months in Darfur, where an estimated 200,000 people have been killed in three years of fighting and millions forced from their homes.

The United States has been critical of China in the past for not doing enough to put pressure on Sudan. But China's ambassador to the United Nations said last week that Beijing had been lobbying Sudan hard to accept a UN force in Darfur.

Lord David Triesman, Britain's foreign office minister for Africa said he had recently discussed the need for a UN force for Darfur with both the Chinese and the Russians.

He told reporters at the United Nations that China was concerned that Sudanese sovereignty be respected, but otherwise was willing for a UN peacekeeping force to deploy.

The African Union is set to hold a meeting on Wednesday to discuss Darfur, which Bashir is expected to attend.

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