UN Report Implicates China In Illegal Ammunition Sales

China is in hot water with the UN over alleged violations by China of a UN-mandated arms embargo of Sudan.

China has mounted a strenuous diplomatic campaign to block the publication of a U.N. report that claims that Chinese ammunition has been shipped into Darfur in the past year, in clear violation of U.N. sanctions, according to several U.N. diplomatic sources.

The report does not claim that Chinese arms dealers knew that their ammunition was being sent to the western region of Sudan. But the findings provide some of the strongest evidence to date that Khartoum has routinely channeled imported arms and ammunition from China into Darfur, where the Sudanese government is engaged in a military campaign against rebels.

Sudan has been under a comprehensive U.N. arms embargo for six years. But at a briefing this month, a U.N. panel responsible for implementing the embargo told the Security Council that Sudanese forces have used more than a dozen types of Chinese ammunition against Darfurian rebels over the past two years.

The panel also reported finding recently manufactured shell casings from Chinese ammunition at the site of numerous attacks launched by unidentified assailants against peacekeepers from the joint U.N.-African Union mission.

"These were very concrete allegations against the Chinese," said a U.N.-based diplomat familiar with the issue. "The Chinese don't want the report to be published."

Under the terms of the U.N. arms embargo, Khartoum is allowed to purchase weapons abroad, as long as they are not used in its military operations in Darfur. But the report found that the Sudanese government had routinely skirted the sanctions - using recently purchased Russian helicopters, Sukhoi 25 fighter planes from Belarus and at least one Russian MiG-20 fighter jet in Darfur.

China responded angrily to the revelations, insisting it would block the public release of the report unless the findings were rewritten, according to diplomats, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the dispute.

A spokesman for the Chinese mission to the United Nations, Liu Yutong, did not respond to a request for comment. But on Thursday, a Chinese diplomat, Yang Tao, told the Security Council that China had "serious concerns" about the report and believed "there is much room for improvement."

"We urge the panel of experts to conduct its work under the principles of objectivity and responsibility," Yang said.

The U.N. sanctions panel has repeatedly alleged that large amounts of foreign ammunition and weapons, principally from China and Chad, have illegally made their way into Darfur in recent years, fueling a conflict that has left more than 300,000 dead and driven more than 2.7 million from their homes.

By: Shelldrake