With flights from Khartoum to Beijing running direct, illicit weapons trading finds easier route
China, an instrumental supporter of Omar al-Bashir and his murderous regime, proudly announced a new flight direct from Beijing to Khartoum earlier this week. The flight, provided by Hainan Airlines, China’s largest privately-owned air transport company, is launching its maiden direct flight between Beijing and the Sudanese capital next Tuesday. Interestingly, the Beijing-Khartoum flight is Hainan’s second to Africa – the first was a flight to Luanda, Angola…..another of the continent’s top oil-producing countries. These flights are clearly about business.
Additionally, the timing is interesting in terms of the priorities it reveals. Hainan only has one North American destination in service: Seattle. The Khartoum route service coincides with approval to begin a second North American route to Honolulu. That’s two American routes for one Sudanese route….Furthermore Hainan has only two current destinations in Western Europe: Brussels and Berlin, with a bid for Dusseldorf. It has five routes to Russia, no stranger to illicit arms deals with Sudan.
So what’s the big deal? Well, aviation links between China and Sudan deserve extra scrutiny. Why? Because first, the illegal deployment of aviation assets was a major factor in violation of the Sudan arms embargo as cited by the United Nations Panel of Experts report released last month. Further, private companies have been central to these violations, and many have been nonresponsive or uncooperative toward the panel’s inquiries. Finally, the vast majority of ammunition and weapons found in Darfur, POST-EMBARGO, were manufactured by Chinese companies in China. That means that military materiel was illegally transported from China to Sudan somehow. The report calls for greater transparency and accountability in their movement, citing:
“The obvious lack of consistent and professional monitoring is exacerbated by the failure of the Government of Sudan to provide the Panel with data on air traffic movements and to ensure the Panel’s full and unfettered access to relevant airports and to the Sudanese civil aviation companies that are involved in delivering embargoed materiel.”
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“Because many of the arms and ammunition documented in the Darfur region have been manufactured in China, the Panel has sought with particular interest the cooperation of the Government of China.”
Widely known and reported, China is and has remained a stalwart player throughout the crisis in Sudan. Whether curbing UN investigations or totally dismissing atrocities committed by the Bashir regime – China has been a leading voice in defending the Khartoum government and its destructive actions. But why shouldn’t they? After all, when has China been known to let human rights abuses get in the way of efficiency? Why have to deal with risking someone finding a cargo hold of weapons?
“Sudan and China have held old and renewed relations along the past fifty years,” recently said, Minister of International Cooperation of Sudan, Dr. Al-Tigani Saleh Fedail. “Sudan has the advantage of vast natural resources and China has the advantage of expertise and appropriate technology”
With allegations of an arms war beginning between the North and South, when will the first re-supply of weapons for the Janjaweed and other Sudanese “auxiliary” forces arrive, Dr. Al-Tigani? One cannot help but picture full barrels of oil being loaded up as crates of arms and ammo are unloaded and dispersed to these militias. But that’s ok, right, China…as long as you’re getting yours.
The opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Save Darfur Coalition.
Tags: China, Darfur, genocide, Government of Sudan, Hainan airlines, Human Rights, Khartoum to Beijing, Omar al-Bashir, Sudan
