China says heed worries about Bashir genocide charges

World powers should heed the concerns of African and Arab states in responding to genocide charges against Sudan's president, China's envoy on Darfur said, warning that judicial steps could imperil peace efforts.

Liu Guijin, Beijing's envoy for the ravaged region of western Sudan, said on Friday the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor's application for the arrest of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir could threaten deployment of peacekeepers and hopes for fresh political negotiations in Darfur.

Judicial moves should not upstage the other efforts, he said.

"The United Nations is using these different measures, and it should ensure its own priorities, and the use of one measure should not undermine the other measures," Liu told a small group of reporters. "Don't send wrong or chaotic signals," he added.

His comments were China's first lengthy public response to the announcement on Monday by ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo that he wants Bashir charged and tried for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

They were also the clearest signal yet that China might back a U.N. Security Council resolution suspending the ICC case.

The renewed attention on Sudan comes as Beijing readies for the Olympic Games in August, when its handling of Darfur will come under a blaze of global attention.

Moreno-Ocampo accused Bashir of a campaign of genocide that killed 35,000 people outright, at least another 100,000 through "slow death" and forced 2.5 million to flee their homes.

China and other governments have said indicting Bashir could unleash a rash of complications in Darfur, a tribally mixed region where government-backed militia have fought rebels against Khartoum's rule for five years.

Sudan has asked Russia, China and members of the Arab League and the African Union to help it seek a Security Council resolution suspending ICC action against Bashir for 12 months.

Diplomats in New York say the Arab League and the AU's Peace and Security Council are soon expected to call on the Security Council to take such blocking action.

Liu did not directly say whether China would propose or support such a suspension, but he said the major powers should listen to African and Arab states.

"We want to see more of the further plans of the AU and Arab League, and then use the channel of the U.N. Security Council or other appropriate channels to ensure the development of the situation does not affect resolving the Darfur issue," he said.

Beijing has sought to show itself as a helpful force in Darfur, quietly persuading Bashir to accept a joint United Nations-African Union mission that took over peacekeeping in Darfur in January.

But China also sells many weapons to Khartoum and is a major investor in Sudanese oil, and critics say hard self-interest has led energy-thirsty China to shield Bashir's government from stiffer international sanctions and pressure.

China this week sent 172 military engineers to Darfur, bringing all of its 315 promised peacekeepers into place.

But the U.N.-AU mission force has struggled to exercise control in Darfur, and since last week eight of its troops have died in attacks. With 9,500 people in Sudan, it is well below its planned full strength of 26,000.

"For China, the (peacekeeping) deployment now faces bigger risks," Liu said.