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Africa: Horn
Sudan Peace Talks Deadlocked (really!)
2004-09-07
EFL.
Peace talks on Sudan's violence-torn Darfur region are deadlocked, one mediator said Monday, as the African Union's chief appealed to the Sudanese government and rebels to compromise. The two-week-old talks in Nigeria's capital Abuja have failed to move past the crucial question of disarming - with rebels saying they will lay down their guns only after Sudan's pro-government militia, the Janjaweed, does so. ``It appears deadlocked, as the two sides are holding to their hard-line positions,'' Brig. Gen. Festus Okwonko, a mediator and commander of the African Union's cease-fire monitoring troops in Darfur, told reporters.
Surprise.
The two rebel movements - the Sudanese Liberation Army and the Justice, Equity Movement - draw their support from African tribes in the region. The Sudanese government is acccused of backing the Janjaweed in an effort to stamp out the rebellion, a charge Khartoum denies. Mediators asked Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, the African Union's current chief, to intervene personally. Obasanjo did so Monday, urging both rebels and Sudan's government to ease their demands at the scheduled resumption of talks later in the day, said Ahmed Tugod, spokesman for the rebels.

The rebels remain insistent that government warplanes stop bombing in Darfur and that Janjaweed militia be disbanded and investigated for any human-rights violations, Togod said. ``For us, these issues will decide the fate of the talks,'' the rebel spokesman said. Sudan's chief negotiator, Majzoub Khalifa, insisted Monday his government remained committed to the talks, saying: ``We are ready to continue the negotiations on the security matter.'' Sudan's delegates, however, warned against any intervention in the talks beyond that of the African Union - apparently fearing the United States or others might be moved to bring pressure to bear. ``Any ... type of interventions in the talks will only complicate matters,'' said Gen. Abdullah Saffi El Nour, a Sudan government envoy to the talks.
An effective international force would certainly complicate handing out the oil contracts in Darfur.
Posted by:Steve White

#8  ZSU-23-4 as anti-personnel weapon. Soviet forces in Afghanistan learned quite a bit fighting the mujihadeen, and among the fighters on both sides were Chechens.

Both forces have remembered their "lessons learned", as is shown in this narrative.

The Chechen lower-level combat group consisted of 15 to 20 personnel subdivided into three or four-man fighting cells. These cells had an antitank gunner (normally armed with the RPG-7 or RPG-18 shoulder-fired antitank rocket launcher), a machine gunner and a sniper. Chechen combat groups deployed these cells as anti-armor hunter-killer teams. The sniper and machine gunner would pin down the supporting infantry while the antitank gunner would engage the armored target. Teams deployed at ground level, in second and third stories, and in basements of buildings.

Normally five or six hunter-killer teams simultaneously attacked a single armored vehicle. Kill shots were generally made against the top, rear and sides of vehicles. The Chechen hunter-killer teams tried to trap vehicle columns in city streets where destruction of the first and last vehicles will trap the column and allow its total destruction.

The elevation and depression angles of the Russian tank barrels were incapable of dealing with hunter-killer teams fighting from basements and second or third-story positions and the simultaneous attack from five or six teams negated the effectiveness of the tanks' machine guns. The Russians attached ZSU 23-4 and 2S6 track-mounted antiaircraft guns to armored columns to respond to these difficult-to-engage hunter-killer teams.

Posted by: RN   2004-09-07 1:37:27 PM  

#7  Rn has the ZSU 23-4 been used in that role? I've read that the US Army's best assault breaker during the Korean War were Quad 50's and dual 40mm.
Posted by: Shipman   2004-09-07 1:22:43 PM  

#6  The last time I saw some Sudanese helos, they were on the flight line and had bird's nests well established within the intakes.

The ZSU 23-4 is most effective in the infantry reduction role. Increased lead density of anyone's body is life threatening.
Posted by: RN   2004-09-07 12:25:54 PM  

#5  ZSU-4(4 barrelled anti-air armor)would flat chew-up Suddanese air power.
Posted by: raptor   2004-09-07 11:26:57 AM  

#4  #3 "teach a man to fish..."

Give a man a fish and he eats for a day.

Teach a man to fish and he drinks for a lifetime.
Posted by: Zenster   2004-09-07 3:24:56 AM  

#3  Dr Steve - Okay, I like that too - "teach a man to fish..." is good. I'd still like to do a little cauterizing of the wound beforehand to give them time to organize and such, heh.
Posted by: .com   2004-09-07 1:11:42 AM  

#2  Much as I'd get a certain satisfaction from that, .com, I still think the best way to go is to teach the Furians to defend themselves. Low-tech is the way to go: rifles, mortars, ammo, comm gear, and instruction.
Posted by: Steve White   2004-09-07 1:06:57 AM  

#1  A deadlock - who'da thunk it would come to this? I'll bet that this thing can get jump-started by using a single Spooky gunship with a little Wild Weasel / HARM action beforehand. I wonder if General Okwonko walks with a stiff-legged limp...
Posted by: .com   2004-09-07 12:54:11 AM  

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