Sudanese Army Ill-Equipped, Experts Say
� � �Email This Page Print This Page Visit The Publisher's Site � � New Era (Windhoek) August 3, 2004 Posted to the web August 3, 2004 London SUDAN'S army, which has promised to fight any foreign military intervention in the embattled region of Darfur, is increasingly reliant on conscripts equipped with often shoddy equipment, experts say. According to the authoritative British-based Jane's World Armies publication, Sudan's land army is around 90 000-strong, of whom 25 000 are conscripts. � All Sudanese males aged 18 to 30 are obliged to undertake at least three years of national service, with around 20 000 conscripts in uniform at any one time and another 5 000 being trained. However, recruitment has been hit by differences between the north and south of the country, which have fought each other in civil war for much of Sudan's 48 years of independence. "Over the years the army has been beset by recruitment problems as northern Sudanese become increasingly reluctant to fight in the south," the Jane's World Armies chapter on Sudan said. "The ranks of the army are believed to have been swelled with southerners pressed into service," it added, noting that there were other internal troubles. "Soldiers have also pro-tested over delays in pay. The army has also been weakened by political purges, internal divisions and widespread corruption." The army is equipped with around 350 battle tanks and 25 light tanks, as well as various reconnaissance vehi-cles, troop carriers and self-propelled artillery, Jane's said. The much smaller air force, with around 3 000 per-sonnel, has 44 combat planes and 28 attack helicopters, although it is unknown how many of these are airworthy. Military equipment comes from a wide variety of suppliers, and is generally in bad condition. "The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) are armed with a wide variety of equipment, often in a poor state of repair from a range of suppliers," the report said. "Oil revenues promise to improve the situation and emphasis has initially been placed upon boosting stocks of battlefield armour, long-range artillery and attack helicopters, mainly from Russia." Relevant Links East Africa North Africa Southern Africa Sudan Arms and Military Affairs Namibia Sudan's defence budget in 2002 was estimated to be around US$600 million or about 4.4 percent of its gross domestic product, Jane's said. Nampa-AFP -------------------------------------------- This service is hosted on the Infocom network http://www.infocom.co.ug
