Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0343/03432.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 41KB | 633 lines

$Unique_ID{COW03432}
$Pretitle{227}
$Title{Sudan
Chapter 5B.   Defense Costs}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Frederick Ehrenreich}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{military
sudan
sudanese
defense
equipment
training
early
spaf
united
states}
$Date{1982}
$Log{}
Country:     Sudan
Book:        Sudan, A Country Study
Author:      Frederick Ehrenreich
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1982

Chapter 5B.   Defense Costs

     According to government policy in the early 1980s, the military budget
has been prepared by the finance and administration director in consultation
with the armed forces chief of staff and the minister of defense after
assessing the needs of major area and unit commanders. Upon the president's
approval, the military requirements have been submitted as part of the
government's budget to the national People's Assembly, where its acceptance
has been taken for granted. Because of secrecy restrictions dating from the
time of the Arab-Israeli War of 1967, only one figure-for total current
accounts such as personnel and maintenance costs-has been made available to
the national People's Assembly and the public.

     Military budgets were limited during the early postindependence years but
then increased through the 1960s as the problem of the southern rebellion
began to dominate other needs. Spending on defense and internal security
peaked in fiscal year (FY) 1970-71 when 29.5 percent of the total current
budget-Sd46.8 million Pounds (for value of Sudanese pound-see Glossary)-went
to the security forces. After the civil war, defense spending fell slightly in
absolute terms to Sd41.2 million Pounds in FY 1973-74 and fell
significantly in proportional terms to 15.9 percent of the government's total
current budget in FY 1974-75. Between FY 1970-71 and FY 1979-80 military
spending increased at a 10 percent annual rate to Sd114.7 million Pounds
while total government spending grew at an average rate of 19 percent per
year. In the late 1970s and early 1980s military spending averaged 14 to 15
percent of the total Sudanese budget. According to figures released by the
World Bank (see Glossary), government spending on health and education
combined remained at roughly half the level allocated to defense throughout
the 1970s.

     Because of statistical deficiencies, figures released by various sources
on total military costs and on the proportion of military spending in relation
to total government expenditure have often conflicted. Although in 1982 the
specific components of military spending were not publicly available because
of government restrictions, it was known that the overwhelming bulk of the
defense budget was earmarked for personnel-related costs. Reports indicated
that 90 percent of the total was devoted to providing above-average wages,
housing, food, basic goods, and substantial medical benefits (see Morale and
Conditions of Service, this ch.)

     The defense budget did not fully reflect the scope of domestic military
spending. Funding for equipment, virtually all of which was purchased abroad,
was made available on a case by case basis after consultations involving the
defense minister, the finance administration director in the Ministry of
Defense, and the minister of finance. Most large purchases of arms were
financed with assistance of the exporting country with direct payment from
third countries, usually the Arab oil states of the Persian Gulf (see Foreign
Military Assistance, this ch.). The total amount of money for military
procurement made available through loans and grants and the terms of possible
barter arrangements were not made public. The military often has circumvented
its lack of foreign exchange by requisitioning imported goods from Sudanese
civilians and paying them back in less valuable local currency.

     Like other sections of Sudanese society, the military in the early 1980s
has been affected by the slumping economy. Partly because of defense costs the
actual number of personnel in the armed forces fell short of the authorized
strength. By the end of the 1970s new equipment and spare parts for old
equipment were increasingly unavailable owing to foreign exchange shortages.
Because of budgetary restrictions and because funds were often poorly managed
by the military, available money was invariably exhausted before the end of
the fiscal year.

     In early 1979 as Sudan's financial problems were mounting, the government
announced that the armed forces might assist in national development by
helping to build and maintain roads, airports, medical facilities, and
agricultural projects. Military participation in these projects had been
legally authorized since a decree of October 1971, but military participation
was consistently and successfully resisted by officers and enlisted men who
felt that their nonmilitary duties would demean their status as soldiers. The
government tried again in early 1982 when Nimeiri announced that the military
was to begin a program of increasing its self-sufficiency by having units grow
their own food on farms located at or near military bases. On Lake Nubia in
the north the Sudanese army has reportedly taken over the operation of some
fifty underused fishing vessels provided by China, using them successfully in
fishing and in patrolling the lake border with Egypt.

The Sudanese People's Armed Forces

     In 1982 the Sudanese People's Armed Forces (SPAF) were responsible for
defense of the national borders against external threats and served as a
backup to the national police in the preservation of internal security. The
military establishment had increased in size from its post-civil war strength
of approximately 37,000 personnel in response to the growth of counterparts in
neighboring Ethiopia and Libya. The SPAF was authorized a strength of 71,000,
but in 1982 political and economic factors limited military manpower to
66,000. Even the latter figure was believed to be inflated by several
thousand, however, because some unit commanders, particularly in the army in
the south, reportedly collected the pay of soldiers who had died or otherwise
had left the service. Thus the army, which on paper numbered nearly 60,000
officers and enlisted personnel, was thought to have an actual strength of
about 53,000. The SPAF also included separate naval, air, and air defense
services. The air force numbered 2,000 officers and enlisted men while the air
defense force had 3,000, and the navy included 1,500. All services were
burdened with large amounts of inoperable equipment resulting from poor
logistical and maintenance practices-a situation that greatly reduced
operational effectiveness.

     In 1982 foreign observers considered that troops of the SPAF's ground
forces were relatively well disciplined. Technical competence was generally
lacking, however, and this deficiency, combined with Sudan's underdeveloped
road and rail systems, limited the army's capability as an effective offensive
force. But when they respected their leaders, Sudanese soldiers had acquitted
themselves well in the past, particularly during World War II and in earlier
campaigns against and on behalf of the British and the Egyptians. If well led,
they (and the harsh Sudanese environment) could be expected to provide a
satisfactory defense against an external aggressor.

The High Command

     According to the Permanent Constitution of 1973, the president is supreme
commander of the SPAF. Nimeiri, who was promoted from colonel to major general
in 1969, to general in 1973, and to field marshal in 1980, has dominated the
armed forces because of his position and his military background. The
president is responsible for appointing and dismissing the minister of
defense, and in January 1982 Nimeiri again assumed that portfolio after firing
Khalil. (Nimeiri had served as minister of defense for long stretches in
1972-73, 1975-76, and 1978-79 after relieving other defense ministers.)

     The minister of defense, who has held the rank of general since