Cao Gangchuan, China's defence minister, pledged to maintain military ties with Sudan during the visit of Sudanese officials to Beijing. China has blocked efforts in the UN Security Council to dispatch peacekeepers to the violence-plagued western Sudanese region of Darfur, which has established important oil-links with China. (AlJazeera, April 3)

From Madrid11.net Security Briefs, April 4

See our last posts on China, Sudan and the politics of the Sahel.