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Sudan
FOREIGN MILITARY ASSISTANCE
Sudan lacked a reliable source of military matériel as of mid-1991,
even though the country faced a severe shortage of equipment and
of support items. Most of its weaponry of Soviet design was more
than twenty years old and could be kept operational only with
the limited help provided by Libya and China. As a result, most
of the Soviet tanks, artillery, missiles, and aircraft were not
in serviceable condition. Western suppliers were unwilling to
provide arms for use against the southern insurgents. Military
credits previously available from Saudi Arabia and the countries
of the Persian Gulf had been cut off as a reaction to Sudan's
continued support of Iraq, following Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Egypt, normally an important source of both equipment and training,
had severely curtailed its cooperation with the Bashir government.
Some assistance, particularly in the form of munitions, had been
provided by Iraq, but this help had ended in August 1990. Although
Libya and China continued to provide some military items, the
supply from China was limited by the strict financial terms imposed
by the Beijing authorities.
Except for a production line for small caliber ammunition, Sudan
has never had an arms industry. Consequently, foreign sources
for weapons, equipment, ammunition, and technical training have
been indispensable. After independence British advisers helped
train the Sudanese army and air force, and British equipment predominated
in the ground forces. Relations between the government in Khartoum
and London were periodically strained, however, and after the
June 1967 Arab-Israeli War, diplomatic and military ties were
severed. Military links with the United States and the Federal
Republic of Germany (West Germany) were also broken for a time.
The breach with the Western nations was followed by a period
of close military cooperation with the Soviet Union between 1968
and 1971. Sudan benefited from the Soviet Union's first significant
military assistance program in a sub-Saharan Africa country. By
1970 it was estimated that there were 2,000 Soviet and East European
technical advisers in the country. About 350 Sudanese received
training in the Soviet Union and other communist countries. Soviet
assistance corresponded with a dramatic growth in the Sudanese
armed forces from 18,000 in 1966 to nearly 50,000 by 1972. The
bulk of the equipment used by the ground and air forces throughout
the 1970s and until the early 1980s was of Soviet origin, including
tanks, artillery, and MiG combat aircraft.
Vulnerabilities resulting from overreliance on one arms supplier
became obvious when relations with the Soviet Union cooled considerably
following the coup attempt against Nimeiri in 1971. Soviet and
East European military advisers were expelled from Sudan for a
year. After relations were repaired, previously arranged deliveries
of tanks were completed and a new purchase of combat aircraft
was negotiated. Military agreements with the Soviet Union remained
in force until 1977, but Sudan began to pursue a policy of diversifying
its arms sources. When Moscow promised extensive military aid
to the revolutionary regime in neighboring Ethiopia, the Sudanese
government expelled all ninety Soviet military advisers and ordered
the military section of the Soviet embassy in Khartoum closed.
After its relations with the Soviet Union chilled again, Sudan
turned to China, which supplied the SPAF initially with light
weapons and later delivered fighter aircraft and light tanks.
As of the mid-1980s, about fifty Chinese advisers provided maintenance
support for tanks and aircraft, including Soviet equipment previously
supplied, and trained Sudanese pilots and aircraft mechanics.
Military cooperation with Britain resumed in 1973, although it
was confined mainly to training and instruction at the Military
College and the armored, infantry, and signals schools. Yugoslavia
assisted in founding the Sudanese navy; for more than a decade
it provided all of the vessels and the bulk of officer and technical
training. The Yugoslav naval support program was not renewed in
1972, however, because of frustrations the Yugoslavs encountered
in accomplishing their mission. In 1989 four more river craft
were acquired from Yugoslavia, and subsequently a Yugoslav delegation
was reported to have visited Khartoum to discuss a revival of
training assistance.
The purchase of weapons from Western countries was financed largely
by oil-rich Arab states that were pleased to see Soviet influence
in Sudan ended. Arab financial assistance, especially from Saudi
Arabia, was instrumental in the purchase in 1977 of six C-130
Hercules transport aircraft from the United States, estimated
to cost US$74 million, and two Buffalo transports from Canada.
Saudi assistance was also credited for Sudan's acquisition of
ten light helicopters and as many as 4,000 vehicles from West
Germany. In addition, Saudi Arabia in 1980 supplied the SPAF with
seventy used American-built M-41 and M-47 tanks from its reserve
inventory.
Until 1985 Sudan maintained its closest military ties with Egypt.
Under a twenty-five-year defense agreement signed in 1976, the
two countries established a joint defense council, a joint general
staff organization, and a permanent military committee to implement
decisions of the joint council and the staff organization. Since
1986 Egypt has provided Egyptian-manufactured Swingfire antitank
missiles, Walid armored personnel carriers, ammunition, and other
equipment to Sudan. Although Sadiq al Mahdi declared his intention
to abrogate the defense pact in order to meet a key SPLA condition
for peace, Bashir reaffirmed the pact after his takeover in 1989.
The internal repressions of the new government and Sudan's refusal
to condemn the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, however, produced
discord between the two nations, and Egypt rejected appeals from
Sudanese leaders for additional military aid.
Until 1976 United States military aid to Sudan was negligible,
consisting primarily of training in the United States for a small
number of Sudanese officers. Soon after officially agreeing in
November 1976 to provide Sudan with selected arms, the United
States sold Sudan transport aircraft financed by Saudi Arabia,
followed several years later by F-5 combat airplanes. Believing
that Sudan was threatened by neighboring Ethiopian and Libyan
forces heavily armed by the Soviet Union, Washington adopted a
growing role in Sudan's security. Between fiscal year ( FY--see
Glossary) 1979 and FY 1982, military sales credits rose from US$5
million to US$100 million. Subsequent aid was extended on a grant
basis. In addition to aircraft, United States aid consisted of
APCs, M-60 tanks, artillery, and Commando armored cars. United
States grant aid reached a peak of US$101 million in FY 1982;
at the time, this constituted two-thirds of all United States
military assistance to sub-Saharan Africa. Between the inception
of the program in 1976 and its virtual termination in 1986, military
grants and sales credits to Sudan totaled US$154 million and US$161
million, respectively. Sudan granted the United States naval port
facilities at Port Sudan and agreed to some airport prepositioning
rights for military equipment for contingent use by the United
States Central Command. Sudanese and United States forces participated
in joint maneuvers designated Operation Bright Star in 1981 and
1983.
When civil war again erupted in the south in 1983, military grants
and credits from the United States dropped abruptly and in 1985
Sudan terminated Operation Bright Star. After FY 1987, no assistance
was extended with the exception of less than US$1 million annually
for advanced training for Sudanese officers and training in the
maintenance of previously supplied equipment. Military aid was
formally suspended in 1989 under a provision of the United States
Foreign Assistance Act prohibiting assistance to countries in
arrears on interest payments on previous loans. In March 1990,
the United States also invoked a provision of the act barring
assistance to regimes overthrowing a democratic government.
According to a survey by ACDA of sources of arms imported by
Sudan, Sudan obtained about US$350 million in military arms and
equipment between 1983 and 1988. The United States was the largest
supplier, accounting for US$120 million. China and France each
provided US$30 million and Britain US$10 million. About US$160
million came from unidentified sources, probably largely from
Egypt and Libya, and as purchases from other Western suppliers
financed by Arab countries.
Data as of June 1991
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