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The Tanks That Won't Go Away

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Well this is awkward, isn't it? You may remember that last year Somali pirates captured a ship loaded with 33 T-72 tanks, which the Kenyan government went to great lengths to deny were destined for its friends in south Sudan (arming one side or the other being in breach of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, unless done with the agreement of the other side).

The tanks were eventually unloaded in Mombasa, once a ransom had been paid, with the tanks being taken to Kahawa barracks outside Nairobi. The Kenyan government continued to deny they were destined for south Sudan and presumably hoped that it could rely on the local press to quietly forget about the matter. Well not everyone forgot about them...

Jane's began an extensive satellite imagery canvass of the area in March, aiming to trace the movement of T-72s from Mombasa towards South Sudan. While the analysis does not conclude that the tanks aboard the Faina were in transit towards their ostensible rightful owners, it does show a pattern of tanks making their way north.

Next year Sudan is due to hold country-wide elections. The following year the south with hold a referendum on independence. Both votes could sow the seeds of building a new, modern Sudan. Or with both sides apparenly arming (Khartoum unveiled its homemade warplane a fortnight ago) for a painful separation, they could sow the seeds of total meltdown and another regional war.

2 Comments

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nick wol | July 18, 2009 1:40 PM | Reply

This is going to be the first and the last one to comment on such articles. if their mind is directed toward an evil thinking not on forgiveness ways of southerner’s culture. However, world is changing cultures and weakness people will go with flow.
First I would like to talks about criticism, criticism literary is discussion, evaluation and interpretation of given situation. Not just criticize whatever you don’t like on your biases without give little credit to others all the time. I can in society like ours it is understandable for village’s people to act according to their biases due to tribal structural and the poverty of wars. What I can understand want I see well educated people act to this problem has if the never been in school is surprisingly to me or the evil massive are working overtime to kill the promise good given in Isaiah 14:14. Instead, I never see any one of these people one day criticize Jallaba action toward southern.
Unfortunately, we have to count ourselves the notion that walking backwards as unlucky in their objects’ was occasionally noted in the mid-18th century, perhaps to heighten the feeling of ‘otherness’ in the proceedings, or perhaps only to make things more difficult instead of making easy for ourselves and agree to disagree for the South and not be slave under sharia laws or marginalize under umbrella of black Arabaziation. Is it that will give us justice I don’t think so because we have been and we are still their up to this point.
Nowadays, a common but too serious idea is that one can raise the Devil by saying who is he to make himself X or Z in the south without respect recognizing each other Lord's Prayer backwards.
If you are unable to view some languages clearly, comparing things with maturity level will always go backward. But if we work for love each others; such as appreciating small thing one contributed to our society and recognize it by giving him credit. In the end, whether or not do people of south need professional critic to criticize themselves is the only thing the need at this time, do they need people to point out bad thing about them.
I believe our people need somebody to educts them and orientated them about their future to come in two years how they going to deal with that situation and they outcome as the case me be or are we ready by all measure necessarily or we just site their and wait until it comes, in the contrary, remember Jallaba are not sleeping as you think they are working overtime to deceptive tactic to foolish you by using some of us to work on their side.

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Toaf | July 20, 2009 4:36 AM | Reply

I'd lost track of those tanks, Rob, so I appreciate the update, as ominous as it is. It's not a good sign for the region's near future.

What do you think?