Evidence mounts that tanks on Somali-hijacked ship were headed to Southern Sudan

By Daniel Van Oudenaren

September 8, 2008 (WASHINGTON) – The cargo manifest of a ship hijacked by Somali pirates as it was on the way to Mombasa, Kenya, revealed a clue that the shipment was actually ultimately headed for Southern Sudan.

The document, published by BBC, shows that the contract labels for the arms shipment include the letters “GOSS,” a common acronym for Government of Southern Sudan.

Helmoed Heitman, Africa correspondent for Jane’s Defence Weekly, told BBC that he has reports that more than 100 T-72 and T-55 Russian tanks have already been received by the southern Sudanese in recent months.

The arms shipments represent a continuing military build-up by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), which is now the official military of the semiautonomous region of Southern Sudan.

Ukraine and Kenya, however, deny that the tanks were for Sudan, and say instead that the “GOSS” label in the consignment order refers to the army’s department of “General Ordinance Supplies and Security.”

Not all Kenyan officials are sticking to this story—a senior Kenyan military official told Voice of America that he has never heard of a code called General Ordinance Supplies and Security used in the armed forces.

What was perhaps a quiet arrangement between military leaders is now a question of public speculation and political drama. Adan Keynan, chairman of the parliament’s defence and foreign relations committee, told journalists in Nairobi that he plans to hold hearings on the matter. He will demand that the current and former defence ministers, Yusuf Haji and Njenga Karume, testify in front of his committee. Keynan wants investigators to make a trip to Ukraine.

Another indication that the arms were not meant for Kenya’s armed forces is that Kenya uses British-made Vickers Mk3 tanks and not Soviet-made equipment. Moreover, the freight document provided by the pirates lists six “BM-21 on Ural wheelbase”—a type of heavy truck mounted with a multiple-launch rocket system, which was once used by Sudanese Armed Forces and by the SPLA during the siege of Juba.

The document lists the Ministry of Defense of the Government of Kenya as a consignee and the shipper as SSFTIF Ukrinmash, a subsidiary of the state-owned arms trader Ukrainian Ukrspetexport.

The listed cargo contained 33 T-72 tanks weighing 1,355,000 kg and 73 packages of spare tank parts weighing 11,900 kg.

The contract number was dated February 15, 2007 and labeled “CONTRACT No. GOSS/T-72/06-07-5/8-1K.

Another order, labeled “CONTRACT No. GOSS/ARMS/08-07-3/87- K,” lists 36 packages of RPG-7V, a type of shoulder-launched rocket-propelled grenade launcher, and spare parts, all weighing 2,818 kg.

The order also includes what appear to be six ZPU-4 weapons and packages of spare parts or ammunition. The ZPU-4 is a Soviet-built anti-aircraft gun composed of four KPV 14.5mm heavy machine guns mounted on a four-wheel carriage.

Sudanese officials, including Minister of Regional Cooperation Barnaba Marial Benjamin and SPLA Major General Byor Ajang have told Sudan Tribune that the weapons have nothing to do with Southern Sudan.

The Somali pirates currently holding the ship do not have the heavy equipment necessary to unload the tanks from the ship, which is lying anchor off the coastal village of Hobyo, some 500 kilometres (300 miles) north of Mogadishu. The hijacked vessel is being watched by U.S. warships.

The pirates are demanding a ransom of U.S. $20 million.

The United Nations imposes an arms embargo on weapons headed to Sudan’s Darfur conflict region. The ban does not cover other weapons sales to the governments in Khartoum or Juba.

However, in accordance with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, weapons to Southern Sudan have to be approved first by the central government. But the former insurgents who constitute the SPLA’s leadership, who fought the Khartoum government for 21 years – not including the country’s first civil war – are not likely to be impressed by this requirement.

(ST)