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| A Djiboutian Mi-24 (Image: Wiki Commons) |
By Shannon Tiezzi
A UN panel says such arms sales, while legal, are prolonging the conflict and facilitating human rights violations.
On Tuesday, the UN Security Council held a “briefing and consultations on the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and on the work of the 2206 South Sudan Sanctions Committee.” The meeting discussed the situation in South Sudan, including the role of foreign-produced military supplies in the conflict. According to a report from the UN Panel of Experts on South Sudan, China has been one of the top sources of arms and ammunition for the South Sudan government.
The conflict in South Sudan pits President Salva Kiir against former Vice President Riek Machar, whom Kiir accused of plotting a coup. Violence has since spread along ethnic lines – Kiir is part of the majority Dinka ethnic group, while Machar belongs to the Nuer ethnic group. The ethnic dimension of the conflict is particularly worrying to observers.
According to the UN Panel of Experts report, which was introduced at the UNSC meeting yesterday, China North Industries Corp. (Norinco) sold $20 million worth of “arms, ammunition, and related materiel” to the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), the government’s armed forces. The shipment included 100 HJ-73D anti-tank guided missile-launchers (plus 1,200 missiles), 9,574 automatic rifles with 2 million rounds of ammunition, 2,394 grenade launchers, and 40,000 “type-69 high-explosive anti-tank rockets.”
The sale was made in July 2014, while the conflict was in full swing. However, the report noted that South Sudan’s government claimed the arms sale had been finalized before the conflict began, and that assertion was confirmed by documentation viewed by the panel.
Read the full story at The Diplomat