Pakistan’s involvement marks dangerous phase in Sudan’s catastrophic conflict

Khartoum, Aug 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) The presence of 100 Pakistani-made Mohafiz-V armoured vehicles in a Sudanese Armed Forces military parade in Khartoum indicates a dangerous phase in Sudan's conflict, a report has detailed. Pakistan's state-owned defence industry has developed the Mohafiz-V and it is designed for movement across difficult and semi-arid terrain — the battlefield environment found across Darfur and Kordofan.

"The first public appearance of 100 Pakistani-made Mohafiz-V armoured vehicles in a Sudanese Armed Forces military parade in Khartoum is more than another weapons delivery in a distant war. It signals a dangerous new phase in Sudan’s conflict — one in which outside powers are helping rebuild military capabilities while diplomatic efforts struggle to stop the bloodshed. The armoured vehicles reportedly represent the visible edge of a much larger defence arrangement between Port Sudan and Islamabad, estimated at approximately USD 1.5 billion," Lebanese journalist Maria Maalouf wrote in The Capitol Institute.

"For Washington, the question should not simply be what Pakistan is selling Sudan. The more important questions are who is financing it, what else is being delivered, and whether foreign military support is making an already catastrophic war even harder to end," the author added.

Pakistan's armoured vehicles may showcase only one part of the whole military package. However, regional reports and intelligence assessments cited by the media indicate that the package could include Shahpar-2 reconnaissance, attack drones, loitering munitions, spare parts for K-8 Karakorum light-attack aircraft and Chinese-made air-defence platforms.

"If these systems are delivered and operationalised at scale, they could significantly reinforce the Sudanese Armed Forces’ conventional capabilities and potentially change the military balance in key areas of the country. This is not simply an arms sale. It is potentially an attempt to rebuild the conventional advantage of one of Sudan’s principal warring parties," the report in The Capitol Institute mentioned.

The international community wants talks, civilian protection and an end to the war; however, military equipment continues to land at the battlefield. Sudan is a battlefield which involves armies, local armed groups, militias and competing external interests, making delivery of weapons dangerous.

According to the report, the US and its partners should call for greater transparency regarding major weapons transfers into Sudan and the financial networks supporting them. The US should analyse who developed the weapons, who financed the purchase, who enabled the delivery of these weapons, which intermediaries facilitate the transactions and what political arrangements accompany them. Sudan does not require an international arms race, but it needs external powers to stop considering its territory for geopolitical competition, defence exports and proxy influence.

Source: IANS