Mick Hartley

More details from that leaked UN report in the Times:

Britain and America threatened yesterday to impose new sanctions on Khartoum after a United Nations report accused Sudan of disguising its military planes and helicopters as UN aircraft and using them to attack villages in Darfur.

The confidential report says that military aircraft were painted white — a colour usually reserved for the UN — and used to ferry arms to the janjawid militia, for reconnaissance flights and bombing missions.

The 44-page document, prepared by a panel of experts and circulated to UN Security Council members this week, accuses the authorities in Khartoum of flagrant breaches of international law and calls for tougher sanctions…

The concerted diplomatic offensive was prompted in part by the leak of the UN report, which covers the period from last August to last month, when it claims both the Sudanese authorities and Darfur rebel groups had ignored ceasefires and UN resolutions.

By far the most serious charges are made against Khartoum, which is alleged to have launched a series of bloody offensives against civilians in Darfur, where 200,000 people have been killed since 2003.

The Government is also accused of shipping arms and fighters into the province, which is subject to an international arms ban. It has further failed to enforce a travel ban or freeze the assets of suspected war criminals.

The report’s most astonishing revelation was the use by the Sudanese armed forces of white-painted military aircraft in Darfur. On March 7 a photograph was taken of an Antonov AN26 aircraft on the military apron of al-Fasher airport, the Darfuri regional capital. Guarded by soldiers and with bombs piled alongside, the plane was painted white and has the initials “UN” stencilled on its upper left wing. Another Sudanese military aircraft was disguised in the same manner. The report said that white Antonovs were used to bombard Darfur villages on at least three occasions in January.

A similar ploy was employed to conceal the identity of three Mi171 military helicopters which were painted white. The report said that from a distance the aircraft could be mistaken for similar helicopters operated by the UN and peacekeepers.

It’d be interesting to know who was responsible for leaking the document. With indications that China, Sudan’s key ally in the UN Security Council, may be getting concerned about the bad publicity coming its way, perhaps things may at last be starting to happen. Too late, of course, but still…

The Times has a hard-hitting editorial:

Sudan has been caught red-handed flying arms and heavy military equipment into Darfur, in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions. Even more damningly, the UN has photographic proof that the Sudanese have been trying to conceal this arms lift by painting their planes white and stencilling “UN” on the wings. The aim is clear: to continue the unabated support for Janjawid militias in their campaign of killings and violence in Darfur villages while mendaciously assuring the world that Khartoum is committed to ending the conflict.

Sudan has predictably denied the charges. But its word now carries no weight. This latest deception marks a new low. That the Government should attempt to hijack the humanitarian relief efforts in order covertly to arm the criminal gangs who have brought such devastation to the region is truly despicable. It displays a cynicism about what is going on that belies all Khartoum’s protestations that it exercises little control over the militias. Fellow African nations that have rallied behind Omar al-Bashir’s Government on the ground that it is standing up to Western interference in Africa should look at the evidence of the confidential UN report. And they should ask themselves whether “ethnic cleansing”, officially sanctioned and covertly supported, will lead to greater or lesser respect for their continent.