SUDAN'S government is using airplanes disguised as United Nations craft to carry out bombings in the conflict in Darfur, a newspaper citing a United Nations report said today.
The confidential UN report also said Sudan was violating UN Security Council resolutions by flying arms into the region.

The Times' story includes photographs from the UN report of a Sudanese armed forces plane. UN investigators said it had been whitewashed and had "UN'' stenciled on its wing and bombs laid out beside it.

It said that this and other planes were being disguised and used to bomb villages and transport cargo in Darfur, where bloody civil violence has caused a humanitarian crisis.

More than 200,000 people are estimated to have been killed and at least two million others displaced in Darfur since 2003.

That was when government forces including its Janjaweed Arab militias began fighting rebel groups who had taken up arms in protest at the distribution of resources.

The release of the report came after Sudan on Monday agreed following months of delays to let 3000 UN personnel plus helicopters into Darfur to support under-equipped African Union forces trying to stabilize the region.

The UN report, released by a diplomat from a Security Council member nation, said forces on the rebels' side were also guilty of violating UN resolutions and humanitarian standards.

It called for a tightening of a Security Council arms embargo on Sudan, the newspaper said.

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0%2C22049%2C21578962-5006506%2C00.html#

Its interesting that the report does not have a single source.

Good idea Sudan, if it's true. Israel needs a good bombin now.

Dear Mr Spock,

As Sam states, weher are the sources to confirm this.

~~~~~~~
tHanks

Zak

I am not sure about the bombings, but the BBC has also reported that they have been breached the weapons embargo by flying in weapons on planes that were painted white to look like UN aircrafts.

The Sudanese government has been accused of violating a UN arms embargo by flying weapons into Darfur in breach of UN Security Council resolutions.

A UN report says Sudan painted aircraft white to make them look like UN planes.
Link (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6570647.stm)


The New York Times report seems to shed a bit more light on the matter.

New York Times Report (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/18/world/africa/18sudan.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1)

A confidential United Nations report says the government of Sudan is flying arms and heavy military equipment into Darfur in violation of Security Council resolutions and painting Sudanese military planes white to disguise them as United Nations or African Union aircraft.

In one case, illustrated with close-up pictures, the report says “U.N.” has been stenciled onto the wing of a whitewashed Sudanese armed forces plane parked on a military apron at a Darfur airport. Bombs guarded by uniformed soldiers are laid out in rows by its side.

The report says that, contrary to the Sudanese government’s earlier denials to United Nations investigators, the freshly painted planes are being operated out of all three of Darfur’s principal airports and used for aerial surveillance and bombardments of villages, in addition to the transportation of cargo.

The report was compiled by a five-person panel responsible for helping the Council’s sanctions committee monitor compliance with resolutions on Darfur, the war-ravaged region in Sudan. It was made available by a diplomat from one of the 15 Council nations, which believes that the findings ought to be made public....

... Marcello Spatafora, the United Nations ambassador from Italy, which leads the sanctions committee, said he had circulated a letter among the other 14 members asking if there were any objections to releasing the document.

Barring objections, he would be free to make the report public in 48 hours, he said.


The NY Times article also gave a link to the UN report of which they all speak of.. UN Report on Sudan (http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/world/20070417SUDAN.doc)

It was journalistically irresponsible to tip off the Sudanese government as to how stupid their ploy is: The UN has excellent tracking of all assigned aircraft in real-time, as does anyone referencing their mandatory flight plans. The imposter "relief flights" are just big brilliant targets that don't fool anyone willing and able to interdict.