New York - The Sudanese government may have flown weapons and heavy military equipment to its troubled Darfur region in defiance of UN resolutions, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday.
'If substantiated, such actions would be in clear violation of international law and in contravention of the UN's international status,' Ban said in reaction to a report accusing Sudan of weapons- running and use of military aircraft disguised as UN and African Union planes to carry out the shipments.
In a statement, Ban said he was 'deeply concerned' and troubled by evidence provided by the report, which was drawn up by a five-member panel commissioned by the UN Security Council.
Ban said he will 'continue to work closely with the Security Council on this issue and will expect full cooperation from the government of Sudan, other governments and all other parties to provide prompt clarification.'
A senior UN official said the UN had sighted aircraft bearing UN insignia in northern Chad as well as in the Central African Republic since last year. But the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the aircraft used by Sudan in the report could have been registered in Kazakhstan.
'But the government of Sudan bears the responsibility for using those aircraft,' the official at the UN peacekeeping operation department said.
'We'll chase this case in the most robust manner,' the official said, adding that the UN did not have full information on the aircraft used by Sudan or governments in neighbouring countries.
The anonymous official said it is not uncommon that aircraft are painted white in tropical countries to deflect the sun's heat, and the markings could have been designations given by an organization dealing with international aviation, known as ICAO.
The official emphasized that the UN had no solid information as to the origin of the aircraft used by the Sudanese government in running arms to Darfur, but said the UN would protest strongly to Khartoum if the report proved true.
The report was published following Sudanese President Omar al- Bashir's decision to accept deployment in Darfur of a UN-African Union peace force of more than 20,000 military personnel. The force would be backed by heavy military equipment and deterrent means such as helicopter gunships.
During a speech at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, US President George Bush on Wednesday threatened to tighten sanctions if Sudan does not stick by its consent to the new deployment.
'The world's heard these promises from Sudan before,' Bush said. 'President Bashir's record has been to promise cooperation while finding new ways to subvert and obstruct the UN's efforts to bring peace to his country.'
Bush visited a new Darfur exhibit at the museum and repeated his assertion that the violence in western Sudan constitutes 'genocide.'
'It is evil we're now seeing in Sudan, and we're not going to back down,' Bush said.
The UN official who briefed journalists in New York on the aircraft report said the so-called heavy support package for the joint UN-AU force would radically change the nature of the peace mission in the war-torn Darfur region.
The heavy war equipment to be provided to the force is worth 21 million dollars, he said. The equipment includes armoured personnel carriers, plus deployment of military advisers and police personnel in addition to 3,000 UN military troops to immediately beef up the 7,000 African Union troops already in Darfur.
The report said the Khartoum government has sent different types of weapons and ammunition to Darfur, using airports at el Geneina, Nyala and el Fasher.
The report said one plane crash-landed on February 24 on its trip from Khartoum to el Geneina and had to be guarded for a week by Sudanese soldiers, who unloaded howitzers and boxes of ammunition.
The planes were used for reconnaissance or for bombarding villages in the region torn by an ethnic war, in which more than 300,000 people have been killed since 2003. The conflict pits Arab militias known as Janjaweed, backed by Khartoum, against black African rebel groups.
'The panel believes the use of white aircraft by the government of the Sudan constitutes a deliberate attempt to conceal the identity of these aircraft,' the report said.
The report said various rebel groups fighting the Khartoum-backed Arab militias also illegally imported weapons across the border with Chad, spreading lawlessness and attacking UN peacekeepers as well as relief workers.
'Organized crime and acts of banditry have now become a source of livelihood for the many groups operating in Darfur and in other neighbouring states,' the report said. 'The prevailing insecurity in Darfur and the raised level of harassment of humanitarian personnel have conspired to seriously curtail humanitarian operations throughout Darfur.'
The report said Khartoum has failed to disband armed groups fighting in Darfur and failed to abide by the UN arms embargo and ban on travel for certain Sudanese officials. The Security Council also ordered a freeze of assets of certain Sudanese officials involved in the killings in Darfur.
The report was in the hands of the 15 Security Council members at UN headquarters and could be officially released publicly if all of them would agree. One of the 15 members gave a copy to The New York Times.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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