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NAIROBI, KENYA —The United Nations Security Council is expected to vote Wednesday on whether to renew existing sanctions that prevent the transfer of military equipment to Sudan's western Darfur region. The pending vote comes as Human Rights Watch calls on the council to expand an existing arms embargo, currently on the restive region, to the rest of the country.
The western Darfur region has been the epicenter of Sudan's current civil war, which pits the Sudanese armed forces, or SAF, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, and other militias against each other. U.N. agencies and rights groups say the parties involved have committed war crimes and other human rights violations during the conflict, which has lasted nearly 18 months.
Ahead of Wednesday's vote, Human Rights Watch is urging the council to consider imposing an arms ban on the entire country to stop the ongoing rights violations and the suffering of the people. The Sudanese government opposes expansion of the embargo.
Human Rights Watch investigators found that some of the weapons being used in the conflict were acquired after the civil war broke out in April of last year.
Jean-Baptiste Gallopin is a senior researcher in Human Rights Watch's crisis, conflict, and arms division.
"We based our research on an analysis of photos and videos posted on social media and primarily taken by the fighters themselves, showing them in possession and using equipment such as attack drones, drone jammers, anti-tank guided missiles, as well as truck-mounted multiple rocket launchers systems and mortar munitions," said Gallopin.
The rights group's report shows some of the mortars fired were manufactured in China last year. Companies in Iran, Russia, Serbia, and the United Arab Emirates have also produced some of the weapons used, according to the organization.
In 2004, a year after the start of another Darfur conflict between ethnic militias and government-backed militias known as the Janjaweed, the U.N. imposed the arms embargo on Darfur. The embargo originally applied to non-governmental entities and was later extended to all parties in the conflict, including the Sudanese government.
Ahmed Hashi is a Horn of Africa political and security commentator. He said the regional and international community is doing little to end the conflict, and said that in fact, RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedi, is receiving strong foreign support.
"I think the United Arab Emirates and other proxy states are arming Mr. Hamedi. I think that the rebellion inside Sudan is foreign-led. I think that the people who caused the Janjaweed and caused international human rights, international crime are fighting in Sudan. I'm afraid that terrorism will rear its ugly head. It is the tragic human rights issue of the 21st century. And we are all, including me, ashamed as Africans that we have not done anything," he said.
The UAE has denied arming the RSF.
Gallopin said imposing an arms ban in one region would not solve the conflict. He said a ban is needed nationwide.
"We believe that the existing embargo is not sufficient, that there needs to be a wholesale embargo on the sale of armed and military equipment to the whole of Sudan, because we documented, we and others documented very serious abuses carried out by the warring parties since last year, including widespread war crimes, crimes against humanity. We know we published a report on Darfur showing that ethnic cleansing was committed. And so we think it's urgent for the Security Council to broaden that arms embargo," he said.
The group also is calling on the Security Council to condemn governments that are violating the existing arms embargo on Darfur and take urgent measures to sanction individuals and entities that are also doing so.