The BBC has found the first evidence that China is currently helping Sudan’s government militarily in Darfur.

The Panorama TV programme tracked down Chinese army lorries in the Sudanese province that came from a batch exported from China to Sudan in 2005. The BBC was also told that China was training fighter pilots who fly Chinese A5 Fantan fighter jets in Darfur.

Read full article by Hilary Andersson on BBC NEWS Africa, 13 July 2008

Another BBC video:

China breaking UN embargo in Sudan (BBC report from July 19, 2008 by AFP)

LONDON (AFP) — China is breaking the United Nations arms embargo on Sudan, providing military equipment and training pilots to fly Chinese jets, the BBC said Sunday, citing an investigation by its journalists.

Citing two confidential sources, the broadcaster said China was training pilots to fly Chinese Fantan fighter jets, and that Sudan had imported several fighter trainers called K8s two years ago.

It obtained satellite photographs of the planes, reportedly believed to have been delivered to Sudan in 2003 — the UN arms embargo was imposed in March 2005 — at an airport in Nyala in south Darfur last month.

China’s government has declined to comment on the BBC’s findings, which contravene a UN arms embargo on Darfur.

More links:

Sudan: The Passion of the Present (blog)

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