From 2004 to 2006, China sold over 55 million dollars' worth of small arms to the Sudanese government, which then armed the Arab militias accused of genocide in Darfur, Human Rights First said in a report released on Thursday.

"While other countries were decreasing their arms sales to Khartoum, China stepped in to fill the void by providing Sudan with some 90 percent of its small arms during 2004-2006," Human Rights First said.

"This makes China the single largest provider of small arms to Sudan."

The group urged China to end its arms trade with Sudan immediately, and said the Chinese government may be susceptible to influence in this regard as it tries to project a responsible image ahead of the Beijing Olympics in August.

Sudan was paying for the arms out of the revenues it received by selling oil to China, it said.

Betsy Apple, a director at Human Rights First, said Chinese assertions that its arms trade with Sudan was small and that its military supplies were not ending up in Darfur should not be believed.

"So long as it continues to sell massive quantities of small arms to Khartoum, the government of China has created a virtual supply line from the small arms factories in China to the Sudanese government-sponsored militias killing civilians in Darfur," Apple said.

Following a trip to Sudan this month, China's special envoy on Darfur, Liu Guijin, said it was unfair to criticise the Chinese government over its selling of arms to Sudan.

Liu said China was one of seven weapons suppliers to the government in Khartoum.

"In addition, Sudan is Africa's third arms producer behind Egypt and South Africa, and is self-sufficient in conventional arms and ammunition," Liu told reporters in Paris.

"The country will always find a way to obtain arms. It is unfair to accuse China."

The Darfur conflict, which the United Nations says has claimed the lives of about 200,000 people and displaced 2.2 million, has raged since 2003 when rebel groups demanded a greater share of the country's resources.

Arab militias aligned to the government in Khartoum have been accused of horrendous violence against civilians as well as soldiers in quelling the rebellion.

The United States has described the violence in Darfur as genocide.

China's foreign ministry issued a statement Friday rejecting the report and saying its policies on arms sales to Sudan were "prudent."

"The conventional weapons China exports to Sudan are extremely limited in number and it only accounts for a small proportion of the country's arms imports," ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a statement. "The report is groundless and based on ulterior motives."

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