China's efforts bring hope for peace in South Sudan

China's newest efforts to broker peace in South Sudan have created new opportunities for the African country.

China on Monday mediated consultations in Khartoum on the conflict in South Sudan with the participation of foreign ministers of China, Sudan, South Sudan and Ethiopia, representatives of South Sudanese rebels and the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD).

The consultations have reactivated international efforts to reach a peaceful settlement of the violent conflict in South Sudan, and have won appreciation of South Sudan's conflicting parties, which welcomed China's role in bridging the gap between them and ending the violence in the newborn state.

Analysts say the special consultations in support of the IGAD-led South Sudan peace process represented a model for what Beijing could do to bridge the differences between the South Sudanese rivals and support IGAD efforts with no need to open a new negotiation forum.

"There is a firm belief that the Addis Ababa negotiations are suffering from some difficulties and that they have taken too much time without reaching tangible results," Abdul-Rahim Al-Sunni, a Sudanese political analyst, told Xinhua.

The new push by China, he said, is timely.

China plays a positive role in enhancing the IGAD efforts, and such a role is welcomed by all parties in South Sudan," said Al-Sunni.

As a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a vital economic partner of South Sudan, China has political and economic weights to be a key player in international efforts to end the armed conflict in South Sudan, he noted.

As a main result of the consultations, the conflicting parties in South Sudan reached a five-point agreement on pushing forward the peace process, which has laid a foundation for the country's reconciliation and stability.

The agreement included immediate cessation of hostilities, acceleration of the formation of a transitional government, concrete steps to relieve the humanitarian situation in the conflict zones and to facilitate delivery of international humanitarian assistance to South Sudanese citizens.

China is playing an increasingly important role in solving regional conflicts, said Al-Fadil Darab, a Sudanese political analyst.

South Sudan has been plagued by a civil war since December 2013. Its Oil Minister Stephen Diu Dau said that the country's oil revenues fell sharply in 2014 as a result of the armed conflict.

South Sudanese authorities have called since early January to make 2015 a year for peace for the South Sudanese people and to end the conflict.

Meanwhile, IGAD, which also mediates between the South Sudanese rivals, further urged the leaders of its member states, the African Union, the United Nations, the European Union and China to put further pressure on the warring parties, so as to end hostilities as soon as possible.

IGAD chief mediator Seyoum Mesfin has lauded China's efforts to realize peace in South Sudan, pointing out that the agreement reached by the conflicting parties in South Sudan is an important step to build upon at the forthcoming IGAD summit.

An extraordinary IGAD summit is scheduled for Sunday in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa to discuss the situation in South Sudan.

Noticing that China's help is effective and significant for concerted endeavors to stop the bloodshed in the world's youngest state, observers believe that South Sudan will see very good chances to practically advance its peace and development process in 2015.

South Sudan plunged into violence in December 2013, when fighting erupted between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and defectors led by his former deputy-turned foe Riek Machar around the capital, Juba.

The conflict soon turned into an all-out war between the army and the defectors, with the violence taking on an ethnic dimension that pitted the president's Dinka tribe against Machar's Nuer ethnic group.

The clashes have left thousands of South Sudanese dead and forced around 1.9 million people to flee their homes.