From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Fri Oct 02 2009 - 11:48:09 EDT
Study warns of north-south Sudan arms race
Fri Oct 2, 2009 6:40pm GMT
* Tensions rise ahead of election, referendum
* Reports says both sides stockpiling weapons
By Frank Nyakairu
NAIROBI, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Militaries in north and south Sudan are engaged
in an arms race that risks plunging the nation back into civil war, a study
said on Thursday.
The north and south fought a two-decade civil war that ended with a 2005
peace deal. But relations remain tense and the agreement faces important
tests soon -- national elections next year then a referendum on southern
independence in 2011.
On top of that, a surge of ethnic clashes in the south have killed more than
1,200 people this year, stoking fears of more insecurity in the remote and
underdeveloped region.
"With ongoing violence in Southern Sudan and Darfur, and mounting tensions
between the northern and southern governments, persisting arms flows should
be a cause for great concern in the international community," Eric Berman,
managing director of the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey, said in a
statement.
Southern officials accuse their former civil war foes from the north of
arming rival tribal militia to destabilise their region before the election
and referendum. Khartoum denies it.
Some 2 million people died and 4 million fled between 1983 and 2005 as the
Muslim north and mostly Christian south fought over differences in ideology,
ethnicity and religion.
The report said China and Iran continued to be the main source of weapons
that were adding to turmoil in the country.
"Arms supplied from these countries clearly help to drive human insecurity
... as evidenced by their recovery from state and non-state forces fighting
in Darfur and Southern Sudan."
Much of the recent violence has taken place in Jonglei, Unity and Lakes
states, which are on what the south sees as its border with the north if
voters choose independence in 2011.
SOVIET-ERA TANKS
The report said the southern military, the Sudan People's Liberation Army
(SPLA), had been stockpiling light and heavy weapons, mostly from Ukraine,
for the past two years. It said 33 Soviet-era T-72 tanks and BM-21 multiple
rocket launch systems on board a Ukrainian cargo ship that was hijacked by
Somali pirates for four months in September 2008 had been destined for
southern Sudan via Kenya. Kenya's government denied it and said the tanks
were for its military.
"Satellite imagery subsequently confirmed the presence of T-72-size vehicles
in these locations (in southern Sudan) during 2009," the Smalls Arms Survey
said.
In July, trade journal Jane's Defence Weekly published satellite pictures it
said showed an SPLA compound northeast of the southern capital Juba
containing what appeared to be T-72 tanks, but said it could not prove they
were from the ship.
Jane's said the Kenyan army had promised to show reporters the tanks were
still there, but had so far not done that.
The rules of the 2005 accord allow both the SPLA and northern Sudan Armed
Forces (SAF) to replenish arms, as long as they have the approval of a
north-south Joint Defence Board.
Adding to the instability, the Small Arms Survey report said the U.N.
peacekeeping mission in the western Darfur region, UNAMID, lacked the
procedures and force protection capacity to monitor and properly secure even
its own weapons.
"The mission now constitutes a growing source of stolen weaponry for
non-state groups on all sides in Darfur," it said, adding that the overall
situation needed urgent attention.
"In light of the (2005) agreement's possible collapse, the scale of recent
SPLA and SAF arms acquisitions is worthy of sustained and high-level
diplomatic attention," it said. (Editing by Daniel Wallis)
C Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
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