AFRICA:Sudan is continuing to ignore a United Nations arms embargo by deploying Russian-built attack helicopters to Darfur, according to human rights campaigners.
Evidence collected by Amnesty International also includes photographs of Antonov transporters unloading military supplies in El Geneina, the capital of west Darfur.
The terms of a 2005 embargo require all arms shipments to be approved by a UN sanctions panel.
Amnesty said the new shipments underlined how difficult it would be for a joint African and UN force to bring peace to the troubled region.
"If weapons continue to flow into Darfur and peacekeepers are not given the power to disarm and demobilise all armed opposition groups and Janjaweed militia, the ability of the new peacekeeping force to protect civilians will be severely impeded," said Erwin van der Borght, director of Amnesty International's Africa programme.
"For a peacekeeping operation in Darfur to have any chance of success, the UN Security Council must ensure that the arms embargo on Darfur is fully and effectively enforced and that peacekeepers are mandated to disarm or demobilise government-backed Janjaweed militia and Darfuri armed opposition groups."
More than 200,000 people have died since rebels took up arms against the Sudanese government in 2003.
Khartoum responded by arming its allies among the nomadic Arab tribes. The so-called Janjaweed embarked on a scorched-earth campaign against the settled farming clans who backed the rebels.
Last month the UN Security Council agreed to deploy a 26,000-strong hybrid peacekeeping force in collaboration with the African Union (AU).
However, Amnesty reports that the government is still flying military supplies into Darfur.
An Mi-17 military helicopter and an Mi-24 attack helicopter have both been spotted at El Geneina airport, in west Darfur.
Antonov bombers have also been in action in south Darfur this month. Raids have been reported on three towns targeting water points in apparent retaliation for an attack by the rebel Justice and Equality Movement.
Meanwhile, hopes are growing that peace talks between rebels and the government could resume in October.
The two sides have not met since May last year when the much-criticised Darfur Peace Agreement was signed by the largest rebel faction.
Progress has stalled since then, as the anti-agreement rebels split into a shifting morass of splinter groups.
Earlier this month, they finally resolved some of their differences to agree a common position during negotiations in Tanzania.
The one notable absentee was Abdelwahid Mohamed al-Nur, whose Sudan Liberation Army faction is popular among the Fur, Darfur's largest tribe.
He says he will only join peace talks if the Khartoum regime ends its military offensive.
Salim Ahmed Salim, the AU's special envoy for Darfur, said he hoped Abdelwahid could now be persuaded to join negotiations.
"We are working on the basis that the talks will take place in early October," he said this week after meeting with Lam Akol, the Sudanese foreign minister.
He said the exact date would be set by UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon, who is due to visit Sudan next month.