Russia and Belarus accused of delivering arms to Sudan

Russia has been accused of delivering military hardware to Sudan in violation of UN Resolution 1591, which forbids any arms shipments to the government of this country and Darfur insurgents.

Photo: Russia and Belarus accused of delivering arms to Sudan

The Sudan Tribune newspaper wrote that the government of Sudan received a batch of Russian MiG-29 fighter jets. A source of the newspaper in the Sudanese army said that 12 fighters had been secretly delivered to Sudan from Belarus. The aircraft, the newspaper wrote, have been delivered to Wadi Seidna air base in Sudan.

Belarus is one of the countries that supplied military hardware to Sudan, the newspaper wrote. According to the Sudan Tribune, Belarus signed a defense cooperation agreement with Sudan in 2006.

Official spokespeople for the Ministry of Defense of Belarus said that the information of the Sudan Tribune newspaper was a hoax.

“I do not see a point in commenting stupidity,” the press secretary of the Belarussian Defense Ministry, Vyacheslav Remenchik said.

It is worthy of note that Russia sent another group of peacemakers to Sudan in February of the current year. It became the fourth group of peacemakers that Russia sent to the country after it joined the UN peacemaking mission in Sudan.

The presence of Russian specialists and Russian-made arms in Sudan has been made the subject of international discussions repeatedly. There is no reliable information to prove the existence of Russian-made jetfighters in Darfur. Moscow officially rejects it, although there were several scandals on the matter before.

Russia and China have been named the largest suppliers of arms to the conflict zone. A serious scandal broke out in 2004, a year after the start of the civil war in Darfur. Amnesty International published a report, in which it was said that Russia had signed a contract to ship 12 MiG-29 fighters, Mi-24 battle choppers and other arms to Sudan in the total sum of $200 million.

The document stated that the deal to sell the jetfighters had been concluded upon the request of the Sudanese government. Amnesty International stated that two constant UN Security Council members – Russia and China – were virtually exacerbating the armed conflict.

Moscow immediately rejected those accusations. The Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry said that Russia was promoting the peaceful regulation of the conflict and never supplied any arms to Sudan.

Agencies