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Sudan summons envoys over weapons | Sudan summons envoys over weapons |
(about 1 hour later) | |
Sudan has summoned the ambassadors of Kenya and Ethiopia over what it says are illegal deliveries of weapons to the country's semi-autonomous south. | Sudan has summoned the ambassadors of Kenya and Ethiopia over what it says are illegal deliveries of weapons to the country's semi-autonomous south. |
The summons came after Somali pirates seized a Ukrainian ship last month carrying 33 tanks bought by Kenya. | |
The cargo's manifest appeared to show the tanks were destined for South Sudan, though Kenya has denied this. | |
Sudan's Suna news agency said the foreign ministry also complained about a plane-load of weapons from Ethiopia. | Sudan's Suna news agency said the foreign ministry also complained about a plane-load of weapons from Ethiopia. |
The weapons had arrived in the South Sudanese capital of Juba on Friday, Suna said. | The weapons had arrived in the South Sudanese capital of Juba on Friday, Suna said. |
But officials from Ethiopia and the southern Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) said the weapons were meant for a previously planned trade fair. | |
'Violations' | |
Under the terms of a 2005 peace agreement that ended more than two decades of civil war, any build-up of military equipment has to be approved by a north-south Joint Defence Board. | Under the terms of a 2005 peace agreement that ended more than two decades of civil war, any build-up of military equipment has to be approved by a north-south Joint Defence Board. |
Pirates reveal Sudan's precarious peaceKiev urged to pay pirate ransom | |
Suna said that "against the backdrop" of the arms deliveries, the foreign ministry had asked the ambassadors to "inform their governments of its protest at these violations". | |
Authorities in northern and southern Sudan are reported to be building up their forces ahead of a referendum on independence for the South in 2011. | |
Ethiopia's Consul General Negash Legesse told Reuters news agency that some weapons from the Ethiopian delivery had been taken to the SPLA for inspection. | |
"They are samples," he said. "Some Kalashnikovs. Some others that Ethiopia is producing." | |
The manifest for the delivery of tanks obtained by the BBC carried the letters "GOSS", widely used to mean the Government Of South Sudan. | |
Diplomatic sources have also said the cargo - still being held off the Somali coast - was to be delivered to South Sudan. | |
But Kenya's foreign minister said it meant General Ordinance Supplies and Security, and that this was a code for the department of defence. |
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