Researchers say rebels in South Sudan supported by Sudan
A report released by Conflict Armament Research states its researchers inspected and analysed ammunition and riffles that government forces captured from rebels during fighting in Jonglei and Unity states.
The Lead investigator at Conflict Armament Research, Claudio Gramizzi, says the ammunition and weapons were airdropped to rebel fighters in Upper Nile and Jonglei states on several occasions from September to October last year.
I think we can surely confirm the fact that this equipment was airdropped. This comes not only from the reports of the SPLA forces who worked with us but also from the fact that most of the equipment was deformed or bent probably due to the impact of the landing,” he says.
The fact that they (ammunitions) are very recent however suggests a direct supply line.”Gramizzi adds the ammunition his group analysed appeared to have been manufactured in Sudan. The head stamp codes and marking codes on the ammunition were identical with Sudanese manufactured ammunition analysed earlier.
Some of the ammunition was manufactured as recently as 2014 the same year they were used by South Sudanese rebels, Gramizzi says.
So this to us is an indication that the chain of custody was very short and therefore probably suggesting a direct origin from Sudan,” he adds.
Of course if we were talking about all their ammunition it would be very difficult to determine whether they had been originated directly from Sudan and they might have come to South Sudan after having been under the control of third parties or just as a result of trafficking by third parties. The fact that they are very recent however suggests a direct supply line,” Gramizzi concludes.
Read the full report:WEAPONS AND AMMUNITION AIRDROPPED TO SPLA-IO FORCES IN SOUTH SUDAN According to the Conflict Armament Research report, some of the ammunition analysed was manufactured in China in 2011 and 2012.
And Gramizzi says Chinese-manufactured ammunition captured from the rebels in Jonglei State is identical to the ammunition used by rebels during what the United Nations labeled a massacre that occurred at a mosque in Bentiu in April 2014.
Gramizzi says his group did not determine the chain of custody or how the Chinese ammunition was supplied to the rebels because they were unable to discuss the matter with with Chinese authorities. Therefore, he says, it was impossible to say whether that ammunition was exported directly to Sudan and or if it came by way of third parties.
Conflict Armament Research researchers also analysed some rifles that government forces captured from rebels in Upper Nile and Jonglei states.
Gramizzi says a common type of rifle found was the Chinese made Type 56-1, which is the Chinese copy of the Kalashnikov assault rifle.
Most of the Chinese made rifles had features consistent with weapons the group documented in the past that were supplied by Sudan to previous South Sudanese groups, which were fighting the government before the outbreak of the current conflict in December 2013.
We are using our enemy as a source of our ammunition.”Gramizzi explains: One of them was quite interesting because it depicts a number of features that can be considered identical to those we could document on other occasions. What was even more interesting is that this weapon was bearing no serial number, meaning the serial number had been scratched off which is a fairly regular modus operandi for the Sudanese army. In many instances before supplying weapons to rebels groups the serial numbers are deliberately erased or scratched off to avoid the possibility of identifying the history of the weapons and identifying the supplier.”
However, Dickson Gatluak, Military spokesman of the SPLA-IO denies his group had received any support from Khartoum.
We have even been accused by the Juba government, the Juba regime that we are getting military support from Khartoum. But these [allegations] are baseless. These are unfounded stories. We are using our enemy as a source of our ammunition.”
Gatluak insisted that the rebels get their arsenal and ammunition from defeated government forces or those who choose to join their side.
