Amnesty says China, Russia supplying arms used in Darfur
May 8, 2007 (LONDON) — China and Russia are supplying arms to Sudan that are being used to fuel violence in the strife-torn Darfur region in violation of a U.N. arms embargo, a human rights group said in a report Tuesday.
China and Russia quickly rejected the report, and Sudan’s government said it was “not justified.”
“The irresponsible transfer of arms to Sudan and its neighbors are a significant factor in the massive human rights catastrophe in Darfur and its spread into eastern Chad,” London-based Amnesty International said in a statement.
The report said “the bulk” of the arms were transferred from China and Russia, without giving specific up-to-date figures.
It said Beijing and Moscow should have been aware that their military equipment was “deployed by the Sudanese armed forces and militia for direct attacks on civilians and indiscriminate attacks in Darfur.”
Sudanese government spokesman Bakri Mulah denied the report’s accusations, calling them “not justified.”
“The report is totally incorrect. … It is the sort of claim that has no material proof,” Mulah said in a telephone interview.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said Chinese sales to African nations were “very limited and small in scale” but refused to say whether any were being made to Sudan.
Jiang said China’s weapons sales to Africa were made to sovereign nations and not individuals and that the resale of Chinese weapons to third parties was forbidden. She said China does not sell arms to regions under U.N. embargo.
In March 2005, the U.N. Security Council extended an arms embargo already in force in Darfur for the rebels and the Arab janjaweed militia to include Sudan’s government.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that “no Russian weapons have been shipped to Darfur.”
“Russia’s military and technical cooperation with other countries is in line with international rules and norms. Russia has fully abided by the provisions of resolutions of the United Nations Security Council, which ban arms shipments to Darfur,” the ministry said.
The Amnesty International report said it was particularly concerned about Russian Mi-24 helicopter gunships acquired by the Sudan Air Force that were allegedly being used to launch attacks in Darfur.
A photo, allegedly from March, of three Chinese “Fantan” fighter jets on the tarmac of an airport in Nyala, the capital of the southern Darfur region, was also in the report. It said the aircraft were “specifically designed to be used for ground attack operations.”
The human rights group said it was “deeply dismayed” that China and Russia were allowing their “ongoing flows of arms” to be diverted to the conflict in Darfur and in Chad.
The conflict has now spilled over into neighboring Chad and the Central African Republic.
Jiang, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said that “in conducting arms sales to Africa, we carefully consider the local area’s situation and development model and stick to the spirit of protecting local peace and stability.”
More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million made refugees in Darfur since 2003, when ethnically African rebels rose up against the Arab-dominated central government. Khartoum is accused of arming the janjaweed as a counterinsurgency tactic, a charge the government denies.
(AP)
The full report is available at :