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U.S. concludes Sudan turning tide against SPLA

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Friday, June 14, 2002

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."

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