No training on use of Ukrainian and Russian tanks: SPLA spokesman

September 2, 2009 (RUMBEK) — The Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) spokesman Maj. Gen. Kuol Diem Kuol denied that the SPLA has brought Kenyan military officers to Sudan for the purpose of training in the use of newly imported T-72 battle tanks.

Kuol denied recent media suggestions that the SPLA is being trained by Kenyan experts on the use of Ukrainian and Russians tanks. He told Sudan Tribune by phone from Juba that a report carried in the online daily on Monday is false.

The Nairobi Star in a report published last week — and cited by Sudan Tribune on Monday — said almost 300 Kenyan military officers were being dispatched to South Sudan to train the SPLA in the use of their newly acquired military equipment including an estimated 100 T-72s main battle tanks.

SPLA’s alleged involvement in a major arms deal for the tanks and other heavy weapons came to light when the Ukrainian-owned ship MV Faina was hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia in September 2008. There were 33 T-72 tanks on board the MV Faina, reportedly the last batch of a series of shipments made through Kenya since at least as early as 2007.

Kuol Diem Kuol said that “the Government of Southern Sudan has invited Kenyan senior military officers for training of non-commissioned SPLA officers in an administration management unit.”

He confirmed that this training will end after four months. However, Diem did not disclose the centres where training would take place in South Sudan. He also added that the training, which kicks off in this month, will focus on how to improve the SPLA from a former rebel guerrilla force into a conventional army.

The Kenyan daily had affirmed that the T-72 tanks are now based in the capital of Lakes State, Rumbek where they were transported in airplanes from Moi Air Base at Eastleigh. The freight manifest of the MV Faina, a copy of which was obtained by BBC News last year, showed contract numbers that included the initials “GOSS,” thought to refer to the Government of Southern Sudan. According to that document, the consignee on the contract was the Kenyan Ministry of Defence.

In July 2009, the newsletter Jane’s Defence Weekly published satellite images, obtained via a commercial satellite, of 33 tanks moving northward. But the SPLA spokesman denied that the tanks were in Rumbek saying, “This is a great lie, there is no plane that transported military equipment into Rumbek.”

Finally, Kuol asserted that SPLA is working hard to install more troops along inter-tribal lines in Southern Sudan to protect civilians.

(ST)