WASHINGTON Ñ The United States has concluded Sudanese
rebels are losing ground to the Khartoum regime in the 19-year civil war in
the south.
Officials said the Bush administration has been closely following the
government offensive in southern Sudan. They said that after years of
stalemate the Khartoum regime has captured strategic towns along the
Ethiopian border.
Officials have confirmed Sudanese military reports that government
forces have destroyed rebel camps in the oil-production region of Bahr
Ghazal state, Middle East Newsline reported. The military asserted that it captured several towns near the
Ethiopian and Ugandan border.
The most significant reason for the government's success, officials
said, has been the cooperation of Ethiopia and Uganda with Khartoum. For
years, Khartoum's neighbors have supported the Sudanese People's Liberation
Army, but that aid ended over the last year.
Another factor in Khartoum's successes is the new weapons acquired by
the
Sudanese military. These include new aircraft and improved helicopters from
such supplies as Belarus, China and Russia.
"We have seen some involvement in weapons sales and weapons transfers
from the former Soviet Union states," Assistant Secretary of State Walter
Kansteiner told the House International Relations Committee on June 5. "We
have sanctions against arms transfers. And we will continue to monitor and
push hard that that that escalation of weaponry does not occur."