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Amnesty International accuses Belarus over conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region

Amnesty International has accused Belarus of supplying Sudan with weapons that are later used by the government against civilians in the Darfur region.

In a report released earlier this week, the human rights watchdog said that weapons from Belarus, China and Russia were fueling the nine-year-old conflict in the war-torn region.

The report documents how the three countries continue to supply weapons and munitions to Sudan despite what Amnesty said is “compelling evidence that the arms will be used against civilians in Darfur.”

Countries are allowed to sell arms and ammunition to the Sudanese government, but states are required to provide “end user” certificates guaranteeing the material will not be transferred to Darfur, which is subject to a UN arms embargo.

Amnesty International urged countries supplying arms to suspend all transfers to the Sudanese government to stop further shipments to Darfur. It urged the UN Security Council to immediately expand the current arms embargo to all of Sudan “in order to stop military and related supplies reaching all parties to the conflict in Darfur.” //BelaPAN