Deploying UN peacekeepers in Sudan's troubled Darfur region would lead to a debacle similar to Iraq, Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir said on Friday as he thanked China for helping block a US-led push for troops.
"If UN troops are accepted, the impact will be like having the coalition forces in Iraq... and Iraq is completely destroyed," he told a press briefing through a translator ahead of a summit of Chinese and African leaders here.
"If coalition forces enter (Darfur), we can imagine what will happen, so our final assessment is that it's better to refuse than accept.
"We don't want a stand-off with the international community but we don't want to be used by some countries either."
Beshir thanked China for its "understanding" and support at the UN Security Council in insisting that Sudan's consent must be sought before deploying peacekeeping troops into the war-torn western region of Darfur.
"We do appreciate the support that China has given Sudan in the UN Security Council," said Beshir, who is in Beijing for a China-Africa summit.
Although the UN Security Council adopted a resolution in July mandating the deployment of some 20,000 peacekeepers to replace an under-funded African Union force in Darfur, Beshir's government has opposed the UN troops.
China has insisted it supports sending in the UN peacekeepers -- but only with the consent of the Sudanese government.
At least 200,000 people have died as a result of fighting, famine and disease in Darfur and 2.5 million others have been displaced since rebellion against the Khartoum government broke out in early 2003.
Beshir's government and its allied Arab Janjaweed militia have been accused of adopting a scorched-earth policy against Darfur's mostly black African
population, with the United States describing their actions as genocide.
But Beshir maintained on Friday that those numbers were grossly exaggerated, saying only 10,000 people had died and that accusations of ethnic cleansing and rape were "false."
Beshir, who met with Chinese President Hu Jintao on Thursday, thanked China for helping oppose attempts by other countries to "depict Sudan in a very negative way" and highlighted the two nations' close ties.
"This relationship is one of friendly economic and trade co-operation... China doesn't interfere with the internal affairs of other nations," Beshir said.
China's investment in Sudan tops six billion dollars, of which four billion comes from state-owned China National Petroleum Corp's investment in the African nation's oil industry, according to the Sudanese embassy in Beijing.
In the lead-up to the African summit, China made no apologies for its close ties with Beshir and another African leader regarded as a pariah in the West, Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe.
"Our principle when handling our relations with other countries is to never try to impose our social system, development mode, values and ideology upon other countries," foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said.
Beshir offered some conciliatory remarks on Friday to the United States, following US President George W. Bush's policy review this week after failing to obtain Sudan's compliance for the entry of the 20,000 UN troops.
"The US government has appointed an envoy for Sudan and there's now an attempt... to avoid any complications in the security situation in Darfur," he said.
"We hope that, through dialogue between the two parts, we'll be in a position to arrive at the best way of alleviating sufferings in Darfur."
Beshir is one of over 40 African leaders visiting Beijing for a three-day China-African forum starting Friday aimed at strengthening political and economic relations between the two regions.