Sudan weapons flow breaches Darfur resolutions: NYT

A soldier with the Government of Sudan sits next to weapons and ammunition at an outpost in Sudan's northern Darfur town of Tawilla, May 17, 2006. A confidential U.N. report says the Sudanese government is flying weapons and other military equipment into Darfur, violating U.N. Security Council resolutions, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A confidential U.N. report says the Sudanese government is flying weapons and other military equipment into Darfur, violating U.N. Security Council resolutions, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.

The government had the letters "U.N." stencilled on the wing of a Sudanese armed forces plane at an airport in Darfur, and disguised government planes were being used to bomb and carry out aerial surveillance of villages and transport cargo, the paper quoted the report as saying.

Sudan has denied the allegations.

The New York Times said it was given the report by a diplomat who wanted its findings publicized.

At least 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million made homeless since 2003 in ethnic and political conflict triggered by a rebellion in the western Sudanese region. Rebels are fighting government troops and Janjaweed militias.

The U.N. report also accused rebel groups of violating Security Council resolutions, peace agreements and humanitarian standards, and recommended tightening the U.N. arms embargo and other restrictions on illicit weapons, the paper said.

An African Union peacekeeping force has been unable to stem the violence in Darfur, a territory as big as France, and Western powers are pressing Sudan to allow a big U.N. force into the region, rather than the 3,000 extra peacekeepers Khartoum has agree to.