Khartoum armament campaign is lethal to regional security

By Luk Kuth Dak

August 22, 2009 — It’s well established under nation-state conventional wisdom that any country has the right to acquire and develop weapons as long as they are for peaceful use and self defense purposes. It is therefore self evident that the behavior of Khartoum acquiring massive armament is viewed as ill-intention. The overly military spending by Khartoum regime is nothing but a spiritual doom.

Late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. puts best: he stressed, “A nation (country) that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on social programs is approaching its spiritual doom.” This statement describes Khartoum military spending spree.

On the 55th anniversary of the so-called Sudan Armed Forces, the embattled Sudan’s President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir unsurprisingly announced that his regime will continue to do all that it takes to make the Sudan Armed Forces one of the best in Africa. He went on to hail the manufacture of war planes and weapons Africa has never seen before. Al-Bashir pointed out, “We will develop these institutions so that they assemble all the equipment required by the Armed Forces,” he said.

A couple of moths ago, it was revealed that Sudan has, indeed, acquired some high-tech weapons from the communist China, capable of reaching all the neighboring countries without exception. Ironically, those neighboring countries which include Egypt have remained stoic and never raise an eye brow as to why the Islamic National Front’s (INF/NCP) regime continues to pursue military supremacy with such magnitude, especially in peacetime with out an overt enemy.

Their silence however, remained a mystery. But again, they maybe thinking that the long-range weapons are aimed at South Sudan alone, and therefore, they shouldn’t be concerning themselves with it. Well, that theory has some meat on it because over the course of the two decades long civil war, South Sudan has become a traditional and an eminent adversary.

Having said that, I do not really know much about the military affairs, even though am a trained Sheriff (prisons officer). But I can tell you this: If in fact that’s the case, then they are dead wrong. The truth of the matter is that, the INF regime cannot possibly be squandering all the resources it desperately needed in enriching themselves, for just a possibility of a return to war with South Sudan, in the event that the Comprehensive Peace Agreement CPA) comes to a dead end. It’s downrightly clear that the regime has far more targets besides the “tiny” South Sudan. It’s therefore essential for (them) to rethink their position, before it’s too late.

Subsequently, it stood out to me that the Darfur rebel groups did not umbrage INF/ NCP armament. They are acting as if it does not concern them in some way or another. Instead, they are busy rushing to their tryst in Doha and Tripoli, for negotiations with the very Arabs that are funding the Sudan armament campaign after all.

Now, the international community and, indeed, all peace loving nations, have a moral responsibility to see to it that the communist China adheres to international laws by refraining from arms sales to Sudan, a country well on top of the list of the countries who harbor and export terrorism all across the board. In all likelihood, if the terrorist regime of Islamic extremists is allowed to acquire weapon of mass-destruction (which might end up in the hands of the bad guys, the likes of al Qaida). It would be lethal not only to peace and prosperity in Africa, but the world at large, literally.

Egypt, in particular, should be the one to worry the most. It should not buy into the relatively and momentarily calmness in its relations with the INF regime. It must keep in mind that, the INF refers to their presence in Halaib as an “occupation” of Sudan’s land. Therefore, the calmness in relations between the two neighboring countries is only a tactical plot to lure Egypt into helping al Basher with his out-standing warrant. But once the regime has accomplished its military supremacy (which is not far too long down the road), the dispute over the border will most likely resurface, and at that time, it would be too late. After all, Egyptians must be mindful that these are the same elements who have orchestrated and carried out the plot to assassinate President Mubarak in Ethiopian capital, Addis- Ababa.

Even more so, Eritrea and Ethiopia (today’s friends of the INF), could be next on the list once the INF becomes the Africa’s “superman” (just around the corner).Both countries should be very concerned with their own pending border issues with a military supper power next door. So they should try to work with the United Nations to see to it that China is held accountable for violating international laws banding arms sales to terrorist states of the like of Sudan under the INF regime, as well as the execution of the arrest warren on President al Basher.

Consequently, nothing could be further from truth, the assumption our neighbors have that INF military weapons’ pile up is South Sudan’s problem alone. But if so, at least South Sudan South Sudan has an advantage over all the other Sudan’s neighbors, in the sense that it has an enormous experience having been at war with the INF for over two decades. And furthermore, South Sudan is truly blessed with Mother Nature that alone scares the “hell” out of the Islamic jihadists.

Make no mistake about it. South Sudan still has some enemies, even from within, and they are still plotting for our destruction when and wherever they can. The war is not over until it’s over, as Plato once said: “Only the dead have seen the end of war.”

I pray that we aren’t caught up fighting among ourselves that we forget to be even more vigilant than ever before. In another context, those who are supporting the INF armament campaign, including China, must be told- bluntly- that they are enemies of peace and stability in Sudan, particularly as far as the Darfur, the Nuba Mountains and South Sudan citizens are concerned.

Luk Kuth Dak is a former anchorman and Sudan Tribune contributor. He can be reached at: [email protected].