BBC finds “first evidence” of China’s part in Darfur

Sunday, July 13, 2008

BBC finds “first evidence” of China’s part in Darfur

UPDATE: You can’t beat the title of Foreign Policy Magazine’s blog post on Sudan’s response to the ICC’s charges against President Omar Hassan al-Bashir: “Because nothing says innocence like promising more bloodshed.”

Also, the China Digital Times has some articles noting the new focus on China’s part in the Darfur conflict.

I’m not sure what to make of this. It certainly is interesting considering the ongoing fury in the comments sections at Truthdig over Robert Scheer’s article on what he views as Taiwan’s declaration of “peace on China.” The general theme of the comments seems to be that imperialism or wrongdoing on the international scene isn’t important unless the US (or another former western imperialist government) is the one with blood on its hands.

Many of the people accusing Michael Turton of martial fetishes will likely find a way to blame the story below on the US (after all, the UN wouldn’t have lost so much credibility if the US hadn’t invaded Iraq without its backing). In the end, China’s misdeeds are the result of its abuse at the hands of greedy western imperialists, pure and simple.

All sarcasm aside, I know quite well the ills the US and the west are responsible for in the world, but the idea that I’m not allowed to express concern over what other countries do (unless, ultimately, I place the brunt of the blame on the US) is a bit absurd.

From the BBC:

Panorama traced the first lorry by travelling deep into the remote deserts of West Darfur.

They found a Chinese Dong Feng army lorry in the hands of one of Darfur's rebel groups.

The BBC established through independent eyewitness testimony that the rebels had captured it from Sudanese government forces in December.

The rebels filmed a second lorry with the BBC's camera. Both vehicles had been carrying anti-aircraft guns, one a Chinese gun.

Markings showed that they were from a batch of 212 Dong Feng army lorries that the UN had traced as having arrived in Sudan after the arms embargo was put in place.

…

China has said in the past that it told Sudan's government not to use Chinese military equipment in Darfur.

…

In these attacks Darfur's civilians have been hunted not just from the ground, but from the sky.

…

The Chinese Fantan jets are believed to have been delivered to Sudan in 2003 before the current UN arms embargo was imposed on Darfur.

But the BBC has been told by two confidential sources that China is training Fantan fighter pilots.

Sudan imported a number of fighter trainers called K8s two years ago - they are designed to train pilots of fighters like Fantans.

"Clearly this is what they used to train for operations with the Fantans," said Chris Dietrich, a former member of the UN panel on Darfur.

International lawyer Ms da Silva says if China is training Fantan pilots, this represents another Chinese violation of the UN arms embargo.

…

There are strong economic ties between the China and Sudan.

China buys most of Sudan's oil and believes that what Sudan needs is good business partners, help with development and a solid peace process in Darfur, instead of confrontation and sanctions from the West.