Reaching for the Gun: Arms Flows and Holdings in South Sudan reviews arms flows and holdings in South Sudan among both state and non-state armed forces as of early 2012, situating recent developments against historical trends and patterns of supply. It updates a previous HSBA report on small arms and light weapons flows and holdings in Sudan from December 2009.
Small arms trafficking across the western half of the border between Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has remained largely unexamined. The legacy of armed conflict in both countries, the presence of armed groups such as the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) on both sides of the border, and poor border control would suggest the possibility of a robust trade in small arms.
As well as reviewing Sudan’s post-2005 arms flows, Skirting the Law: Post-CPA Arms Flows to Sudan documents the scope of the escalating procurement of major weapons systems by government forces in both Northern and Southern Sudan.
DDR in Sudan: Too Little, Too Late? takes a critical look at the ongoing DDR programme in Sudan. It reviews the historical background of the programme as well as the key players working to implement it. It examines the programmatic design from a technical perspective and reviews progress to date as well as some of the noteworthy implementation challenges faced.
Following the Thread: Arms and Ammunition Tracing in Sudan and South Sudan provides an overview of the project’s findings with regard to the types of weapons observed, their country of manufacture, and patterns of holdings among different actors that are indicative of common supply sources. It synthesizes the findings of more than two years’ worth of fieldwork and follow-up investigations by HSBA project staff and consultants, initially published in web-based reports.
Under Attack and Above Scrutiny? Arms and Ammunition Diversion from Peacekeepers in Sudan and South Sudan, 2002-14 seeks to document the scale and scope of losses of arms and ammunition from peacekeepers in missions in Sudan and South Sudan.
Sudan is at the epicentre of one of the world’s most dynamic arms markets. Protracted armed conflicts throughout the Horn of Africa have generated chronic armed violence and rates of internal displacement and refugee flows that are among the highest on record. There appears to be a robust association between arms availability and persistent insecurity in the region that has contributed to the militarization of its communities and the prolongation of many ongoing cross-border and internal conflicts.
Supply and Demand: Arms Flows and Holdings in Sudan reviews small arms supply and demand among the spectrum of armed actors in Sudan, highlighting recent trends and developments. It also describes the primary supply chains and mechanisms by which these arms transfers take place.
Also available in ARABIC.
After nine years of rebellion, proxy arming, and shifting alignments between the Government of Sudan (GoS) and both Arab and non-Arab populations in the region, the Darfur conflict appears little closer to resolution than it did in 2003. 1 Successive mediation efforts—in Abuja (2006), Tripoli (2007), and Doha (2009–12), among other initiatives—have not bridged the gaps between Khartoum and the multiplicity of Darfur armed opposition groups. In fact, although some parts of Darfur have become appreciably more peaceful, the last 18 months has witnessed an evolution of the conflict as a whole.
Small arms and light weapons need ammunition. Government forces and armed groups cannot wage battle or train their troops without a sustained supply of ammunition, and its availability determines the type of weapons used in most of the conflicts around the world. The surplus ammunition market provides the buyers with cheap, easily available, and compatible rounds. It also allows the suppliers to reduce potentially obsolete national stockpiles, and to benefit from the revenues of surplus sales.