Kenya has been named in a report by a Swiss research institute as the conduit for many of the weapons transferred to Southern Sudan government forces in violation of a peace agreement strongly backed by the United States.
The Sudan Human Security Baseline Assessment, which is a multi-year research project administered by the Small Arms Survey – an independent research project of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies – reported that satellite imagery has confirmed the presence at Southern Sudan military headquarters of tanks that arrived at the port of Mombasa in 2008.
These T-72 tanks were part of three weapons shipments from Ukraine "ostensibly consigned to the Kenyan Ministry of Defence" but that were in fact under contract to the Government of Southern Sudan, according to the Small Arms Survey. In addition to tanks, the three shipments in 2007 and 2008 are said to include 122 mm vehicle-mounted rocket launchers, 14.5 mm machine guns, 23 mm anti-aircraft cannon, RPG-7 rocket launchers and AKM assault rifles.
Some of these arms transfer to South Sudan forces were facilitated by a Mombasa-based shipping agency run by a British national, the survey says. It does not name the agency. The researchers warn that an "arms race" is underway in Sudan, with the national government in Khartoum and the SPLM-led government in the South both acquiring large quantities of weapons.
Insecurity: The United States is meanwhile warning that shipments of arms into Southern Sudan are heightening insecurity there in the run-up to a referendum that could result in the region’s secession.
US ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice did not directly answer a reporter’s question last week about Kenya‘s reported involvement in this illicit arms trade. "In a region where you have porous borders," Ms Rice said in response, "there are undoubtedly weapons coming from all directions."
