Veteran Chinese diplomat Zhong Jianhua, a special envoy on Africa, is set to visit Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya, to help with efforts to resolve the political crisis in South Sudan.
According to the Chinese foreign ministry, Mr Jianhua will meet the ‘relevant parties to support African mediation efforts and urge the factions in South Sudan to implement the peace agreement’.
“China has always been an active participant and staunch promoter of the peace process in South Sudan,” the ministry said. China has energy interests in South Sudan, and the China National Petroleum Company (CNPC) said it had evacuated the bulk of its workers from the war-torn country but that its operations were unaffected.
South Sudan, the world’s newest nation, which is still recovering from a two-year civil war that started in 2013, recently erupted into violence orchestrated by armed supporters of President Salva Kiir and his rival Vice President Riek Machar, in which about 300 people were killed in just four days.
