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Re: على ذمة -الغارديان-ضربات جوية تستهدف مطارات عسكرية سودانية. (Re: محمود الدقم)
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A no-fly zone, of the kind enforced in Iraq before the invasion, has been widely dismissed by military experts as impractical over Darfur, which is the size of France. But the Guardian has learned that US and British officials are considering a cheaper alternative: punitive air strikes against Sudanese air force bases if Khartoum violated the no-fly zone.
The example being considered is not Iraq, but Ivory Coast, where the French wiped out much of the Ivorian air force while its planes and helicopters were sitting on the tarmac, in November 2004. The air strikes were in reprisal for the deaths of nine French peacekeepers in an Ivorian raid on rebel-held areas in the north.
Mr Blair's push for tough action is likely to be given a considerable boost by a new, still classified, report in New York by the UN's panel of experts on Sudan. According to an official who has seen it, the panel found evidence that the Sudanese government was continuing to ship arms into Darfur and conduct air force operations over the province in violation of UN security council resolution 1591, passed two years ago.
Investigators also spotted an Antonov-26 plane painted white and parked at a military airport. "The panel noted with concern that the plane had a UN logo painted on the top of its left wing," a UN internal document said. "It was parked on the military apron next to rows of bombs." The panel spotted another white Antonov at a military airport on March 1.
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