Darfur rebels "shoot down spy plane"

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Darfur rebels said they shot down an unmanned spy plane over the war-torn region on Thursday, saying the Sudanese government was using it to track their positions.

A spokesman for the Sudanese army said an unmanned plane had made an emergency landing in the area. "It could have been shot down," he told Reuters.

The rebel Sudan Liberation Army's Unity faction said a patrol spotted a drone at about 5:40 p.m. (3:40 a.m. British time) in the central mountainous Jabel Marra area and shot it down with an anti-aircraft gun.

"It is the first time we have seen this in Darfur," said Sherif Harir from the rebel Sudan Liberation Army's Unity faction (SLA-Unity). "Our men told us they had shot it down and were sitting on the wreckage."

Harir said the fighters saw Chinese writing on the body of the aircraft. "It is Chinese made. The government want to spy out our positions."

State media last year announced Sudan had developed unmanned surveillance planes, was producing missiles and was self sufficient in conventional weapons. At the time many analysts doubted the rare public announcement from the military, dismissing it as propaganda.

All "belligerent parties" in the five-year Darfur conflict, including Khartoum and rebel groups, are under a United Nations arms embargo. But rights groups have regularly accused China of arming Sudanese troops.

Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in Darfur in 2003, accusing central government of neglect. International experts estimate some 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million been driven from their homes. Khartoum mobilised mostly Arab militia to quell the revolt.

(Reporting by Khaled Abdelaziz and Andrew Heavens; Editing by Charles Dick)