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KHARTOUM-China, under international pressure to do more to end bloodshed in Darfur, urged Western powers Wednesday to persuade rebel groups to attend peace talks with the government of its Sudanese ally.Liu Guijin, the special Chinese envoy on Darfur, also repeated calls for the Khartoum government to show more flexibility on "technical" issues still blocking the deployment of a joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force in the war-ravaged western Sudanese region.Liu, whose country is a big investor in Sudan's oil industry and is its largest weapons supplier, reported no significant steps forward in political talks on Darfur."Unfortunately on the political process, no substantial progress has been made,"Liu said in Khartoum after discussions with top Sudanese leaders, including President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.Of the five key Darfur rebel groups, only two have agreed to unify their positions and join the peace talks, stalled since the failed summit in Libya in October.The two key rebel factions, the Justice and Equality Movement, or JEM,-the biggest military group-and the populist Sudan Liberation Movement, or SLM, led by Abdel Wahed Mohamed el-Nur, were still putting conditions on attending any talks."We urge our Western friendly countries...to use their positive influence to engage those factions who have until now resisted to come over to the negotiating table, to join the political process," Liu said.Failing to launch a successful political process, he argued, means the joint AU-U.N. mission would not be "sustainable."
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