China to Appoint Horn of Africa Envoy Amid Conflicts in Region

(Bloomberg) -- China plans to appoint a special envoy to the Horn of Africa to help resolve conflicts in the region. 

Leaders should consider convening a peace and security conference, China’s Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi said Thursday at a briefing in Kenya’s port city of Mombasa. He is on an Africa tour that started in Eritrea on Jan. 5 and includes Comoros. The visit follows the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation summit in Senegal in November.

Wang’s comments come as a civil war rages in Ethiopia, protests persist in Sudan and Somalia faces a political crisis -- events that have battered the nations’ economies. China, which is among the biggest lenders in Africa, joins other leaders from the continent, the U.S., Europe and the Middle East in trying to resolve conflicts in the region.

In recent years, flare ups of conflicts and confrontations have emerged, Wang said. It shouldn’t be allowed to continue, he said. 

Wang visited Ethiopia in December to show support for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government amid a yearlong war with rebels from the northern Tigray region.

In Kenya, China signed six bilateral agreements with the East African nation on issues including health, poverty reduction and agricultural development, trade promotion and investments, Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Secretary Raychelle Omamo said during the joint briefing.

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