FACT SHEET
Who is selling arms in Sudan?
The Government of Sudan has been accused by observers on the ground of supporting the Janjawid armed groups in the Darfur region. In November 2004, Amnesty International published details of the arms exports that have fuelled massive human rights abuses in Sudan, including the killing, rape, torture and displacement of more than a million civilians since the Darfur conflict began in February 2003. The report, Sudan: Arming the Perpetrators of Grave Abuses in Darfur, identifies the main types of arms sent to Sudan and the governments that have deliberately or unwittingly allowed them to be sent:
- Military aircraft and components sold to Sudan from the Russian Federation, China and Belarus, with helicopter spare parts from Lithuania, despite repeated use of such aircraft to bomb villages and support ground attacks on civilians;
- Tanks, military vehicles and artillery transferred to Sudan from Belarus, Russia and Poland, even though such equipment has been used to help launch indiscriminate and direct attacks on civilians;
- Grenades, rifles, pistols, ammunition and other small arms and light weapons exported to Sudan from many countries, but mainly China, France, Iran and Saudi Arabia;
- The recent involvement of arms brokering companies from the UK and Ireland attempting to provide large numbers of Antonov aircraft and military vehicles from Ukraine and pistols from Brazil;
- Military training and cooperation offered by Belarus, India, Malaysia and Russia.
Amnesty International appealed to the UN Security Council to impose a mandatory arms embargo on all parties in Sudan in order to halt arms shipments likely to be used to commit human rights violations. However, among the main suppliers to Sudan are China, Russia, France—all Permanent Security Council members, and the Security Council has been slow to act.
In March 2005 the UN Security Council agreed to extend the existing arms embargo to include the Sudan government. Security Council Resolution 1591, which extends the arms embargo, also authorizes the creation of an embargo monitoring committee, supported by a Panel of Experts, with powers to impose targeted sanctions on arms dealers that violate the embargo. The committee can also impose sanctions on the Government of Sudan if it continues to conduct offensive military flights over Darfur.
See the full copy of the report: Sudan: Arming the perpetrators of grave abuses in Darfur.
