U.N. council gets Sudan report that infuriated China

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - After weeks of delays due to Chinese objections, the U.N. Security Council on Friday received a report on violations of the arms embargo in Sudan's western Darfur region that infuriated Beijing.

Austrian U.N. Ambassador Thomas Mayr-Harting told reporters he was passing the so-called Panel of Experts' report on compliance with the embargo to council members. A council diplomat later confirmed that the report had been sent out.

The confidential report, which Reuters has seen, said Khartoum committed multiple breaches of the embargo and China has done little to ensure its weaponry is not used in Darfur.

It describes how markings on most of the 18 types of bullet casings found at scenes of attacks against U.N./African Union peacekeepers indicated they were manufactured in China. But it did not say the Chinese government was necessarily to blame.

China had reacted angrily to the report and refused to allow the Security Council's Sudan sanctions committee to formally pass it to council members so that they could consider taking action, envoys said. Sanctions committees work on the basis of consensus, which means each member has veto powers.

As a result, it sat in limbo on the committee for weeks before Mayr-Harting passed it to the 15-nation council.

Normally such reports are published on the website of the Sudan sanctions committee, which Mayr-Harting chairs. It is unclear whether the experts' report will be made public.

Mayr-Harting said council members would have to decide whether or not to publish the report. Diplomats say China would prefer to keep it out of the public eye.