Armed and insecure
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pax-report-horn-of-africa-armed-and-insecure
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The pirates released the ship <strong>and</strong> its crew only after four months (its captain<br />
was killed in the process), reportedly after receiving USD 3.2 million in cash. 217<br />
Despite denials by officials from Ukraine, Kenya <strong>and</strong> South Sudan that the<br />
freight was destined for the latter country, leaked cables revealed that there<br />
was little doubt about the ultimate recipient. Satellite imagery showed some<br />
T-72 tanks unloaded in Kenya, transferred to railway shunting yards for onward<br />
shipment, <strong>and</strong> finally in South Sudan. 218 How many of the tanks eventually<br />
made it to South Sudan remains unconfirmed.<br />
In a parallel case, Ug<strong>and</strong>a may have re-transferred anti-aircraft weapons to<br />
South Sudan between 2010 <strong>and</strong> 2012. Since 2013, Soviet/Russian origin S-125<br />
surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems have been seen at a military camp 20<br />
kilometres from Juba. Satellite imagery from June 2015 showed 16 missile<br />
launchers as well as support vehicles, suggesting that four batteries with<br />
four launchers each were present. While there are no reports of South Sudan<br />
receiving SAM systems, SIPRI has noted that Ug<strong>and</strong>a acquired four S-125s<br />
along with 300 V-600 missiles from Ukraine between 2010 <strong>and</strong> 2012, while<br />
according to analysis by IHS Jane’s, no S-125s have been seen in Ug<strong>and</strong>a. This<br />
suggests they were acquired by Kampala on South Sudan’s behalf. However,<br />
satellite imagery suggests they have not been deployed operationally since<br />
November 2013. 219<br />
217 New York Times, ‘Somali Pirates Get Ransom <strong>and</strong> Leave Arms Freighter’, February 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/world/africa/06pirates.html.<br />
218 BBC, ‘Hijacked tanks ‘for South Sudan’’, October 2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7656662.stm; US cable in November 2009, revealed through<br />
Wikileaks: https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/09KYIV1942_a.html.<br />
219 Jane’s Defence Weekly, ‘Analysis: South Sudan deploys S-125 SAM system’, January 2016, http://www.janes.com/article/57003/analysis-south-sud<strong>and</strong>eploys-s-125-sam-system.<br />
58 PAX ! <strong>Armed</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>insecure</strong>