Khartoum has committed multiple breaches of an arms embargo over Sudan’s conflict-torn Darfur region and China has done little to ensure its weaponry is not used there, according to a confidential UN report.
The latest report by the so-called Panel of Experts, which monitors compliance with a 2005 UN arms embargo for Darfur, is now in the hands of the Security Council’s Sudan sanctions committee. It says Khartoum’s violations include unauthorized transfer of military hardware and troops to Darfur.
UN diplomats say the panel’s unpublished findings are especially embarrassing for China, which denies knowingly providing Khartoum with arms or ammunition used in Darfur, but tried to prevent publication of the arms report.
Some findings in the report have been leaked by diplomats, but Reuters was the first news organization to see the report.
It describes how markings on most of the 18 types of bullet casings found at scenes of attacks against UN-African Union peacekeepers indicated they were manufactured in China.
“Twelve of these samples bear markings consistent with markings applied by manufacturers in ... China,” the report said. “China pointed out that non-Chinese manufacturers may also apply markings such as those documented by the Panel.”
However, several Security Council diplomats said that the expert panel had honored a Chinese request for further evidence, which was now available to the sanctions committee. That evidence casts doubt on Beijing’s arguments, they said.
It was not immediately clear what that evidence was. Envoys said that in order to prevent further leaks embarrassing to China, the new proof could only be viewed at UN headquarters and would not be released to the 15 Security Council missions.
The report said that the panel had no proof China knowingly transferred ammunition to Khartoum or “other actors” who Beijing knew would pass it to Khartoum for use in Darfur.
China has publicly complained about the report, saying it had “serious concerns” about it. However, the panel said Beijing promised to investigate how Chinese ammunition ended up in Darfur. Sudan said it would comment after the report is released.
It is not illegal to supply weapons to Khartoum, but states are required to have so-called “end-use” guarantees from the Sudanese government that the arms will not end up in Darfur.
There were other types of bullet cartridges found at sites where peacekeepers were attacked, the report said, four of them Sudanese and the other two from Israel.
Other apparent violations of the arms embargo, the panel said, included the transfer to Darfur of Russian-made Sukhoi Su-25 “Frogfoot” ground attack jets, 15 of which Khartoum has purchased from Belarus since 2008.
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