Even a sub-regional battle or skirmish today has an undeniable global character. Ukrainian tanks rolled over fields, to be intercepted by Chinese landmines, while soldiers with Russian Kalashnikovs advanced over enemy lines, carefully avoiding Swedish rocket launchers and, after tracking sentry movements using American night vision devices, swooped down on the enemy’s headquarters. Almost feels like an excerpt out of a teenage video wargame. Only it isn’t. It’s a true event, real life action from Africa, which has overtaken imagination, funding, fueling and preserving the business and economics of warfighting. The conflict in South Sudan is an example of the weapons industry making its presence felt in a receptive playing field where warring factions continue to use imported tanks, rockets and mortars on military and civilian targets alike. Despite the existence of a peace agreement between Sudan and South Sudan’s ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), and an EU embargo on Sudan, tanks have been delivered to the South Sudanese army by Ukrainian, German and UK firms, according to an Amnesty report quoted by the BBC. The cost of military conflicts for Africa is at least $20 billion a year.
Read more about the increase on military spending here.
