The Wire

China’s role in the Darfur conflict has come under scrutiny today, with Australian MPs joining a global initiative lobbying the emerging power to exert its significant economic and diplomatic influence in Sudan to put an end to the conflict. Senators from a wide spectrum of political affiliations pledged their support for the Dream for Darfur campaign including Greens leader Bob Brown, Labour’s Laurie Ferguson and Democrats Senator Natasha Stott Despoja. The calls for China to exert its considerable influence in the region stems from the fact that she is the nation’s largest investor absorbing two thirds of its oil output, with 40% of this revenue in 2002 used to purchase military hardware used to fuel the conflict between ethnic African and Arab factions. President of the Darfur Community Association of Australia, Abdelhadi Matar, who fled Sudan for Australia via Libya and Egypt explained the extent of Chinese influence in Darfur to The Wire.