South Sudan Budgeted $850 Million to Crush Rebels, UN Says

South Sudan, one of the world’s most corrupt^[1] and least developed^[2] countries, prepared an $850 million budget to crush a rebellion shortly after the insurgency began almost two years ago, the United Nations said.

The supply of Israeli automatic rifles, Chinese missiles, Russian attack helicopters and amphibious vehicles “has been instrumental in prolonging and escalating the war,” now in its 21st month, and enabled large-scale violations of humanitarian law, according to an interim report by the UN Panel of Experts on South Sudan.

South Sudan’s pursuit of “greater air and riverine capacity” is part of a strategy against a mobile insurgency that relies on small arms, the UN said in the report published on its website Tuesday. South Sudan army spokesman Philip Aguer said the military needed more weapons, gunships and vehicles to remain a modern force in the region, without commenting on the UN’s figure.

The U.S. last week proposed a UN resolution to impose an arms embargo and targeted sanctions on South Sudan after President Salva Kiir refused to sign a peace deal to end the civil war that’s left tens of thousands of people dead. The government cited differences in opinion over the structure of the army, demilitarization and governance in crude-rich Upper Nile state.

Oil, Poverty

South Sudan has sub-Saharan Africa’s third-biggest oil reserves, after Nigeria and Angola, according to BP Plc data. Violence has cut crude output by at least a third to about 165,000 barrels per day, the Petroleum Ministry said in May. It’s ranked 171 of 175 countries on Berlin-based Transparency International’s corruption perceptions index and near the bottom of the UN’s Human Development Index, which measures indicators including life expectancy and national income.

“The UN should do a comparative study of other countries like Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Uganda and Sudan on how much they spend on military,” Aguer said Monday by phone from South Sudan’s capital, Juba.

UN investigators found a confidential South Sudanese army “emergency budget” document that outlined $850 million in proposed spending from January to July last year, including a wish-list of heavy and sophisticated weaponry to counter the loss of divisions defecting to opposition forces, according to the report.

Russian Helicopters

The government bought four $10-million Russian-built Mil Mi-24 helicopters that were later used in an attack against rebels and civilians in Upper Nile state, the UN investigators said. In Unity state, as many as 10 Russian-built amphibious vehicles were deployed in a similar campaign as civilians sought refuge from fighting, according to the report.

The UN investigators also saw Israeli automatic rifles, some delivered before the outbreak of war in December 2013, used by the army, national police and bodyguards of high-ranking officials and senior army officers.

The continuing import of small arms, light weapons and ammunition by both sides “will have a lasting impact on peace and stability in South Sudan” and the region, according to the report. Rebel spokesman Mabior Garang said the UN’s findings proved South Sudan’s government wanted war.

“This is not surprising, these purchases and spending show that they are not for peace,” he said by phone Aug. 21 from Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. Rebel weapons came from defecting army generals and capturing government forces’ positions, Garang said.

References

1. ^{^} corrupt (www.transparency.org)
2. ^{^} least developed (data.worldbank.org)