Chinese engineers to back up UN in Darfur

China's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that it would send military engineers to Sudan's troubled Darfur region in support of a planned UN peacekeeping force, state media reported. Washington had earlier revealed that about 300 Chinese engineers would participate in the action, which will see UN forces work alongside African Union forces already in Darfur. According to UN estimates, around 200,000 people have been killed in the region since 2003 and a further 2.5 million displaced. With its continued purchases of much of Sudan's oil and its previous resistance to UN Security Council action in the country, China has been accused of abetting what rights activists describe as genocide in ethnically-mixed Darfur. Also on Tuesday, Amnesty International accused China and Russia of sending weapons to the region in contravention of a UN arms embargo. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu branded the accusations as "totally unreasonable", stressing that China has a "prudent, responsible, and strictly administered policy" on military exports.