A report by the Small Arms Survey’s Human Security Baseline Assessment for Sudan and South Sudan indicates that much of weapons circulating in the two countries are produced in Sudan, China and Iran.

The project published a 3-year detailed report of arms and ammunition documented with non-state actors in South Sudan and Sudan.

The report provides an overview of the types of weapons observed, their country of manufacture, and patterns of holdings among different actors.

It describes the results of field observations of arms and ammunition documented between April 2011 and July 2013 in conflict zones.

These results were found in the Greater Upper Nile region of South Sudan and in Darfur, South Khordofan, and Blue Nile, of Sudan.

The research found that older weapons from the Eastern Bloc and Iran, as well as newer weapons from China, predominate among all armed actors in Sudan and South Sudan.

It found that Sudanese security forces are the primary source of weapons to non-state armed groups in Sudan and South Sudan, through deliberate arming and battlefield capture.

Jonah Leff who is the co-author of the report told Eye Radio from Nairobi that Khartoum supplied Chinese-manufactured arms and ammunition to South Sudanese militias between 2011 and 2013.

He said this was done in violation of an agreement signed with China not to supply arms to other forces or groups outside Sudan.

“For the project, we analyzed the types of weapons and through tracing techniques, we were able to identify that in fact a good proportion of the weapons in service with rebels had in fact originated with Sudanese Armed Forces,” said Mr Leff.

Jonah Leff said Sudanese-manufactured ammunition proliferates into other conflict zones, such as in the Central African Republic, Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, and Syria.

On South Sudan, Mr. Leff said they have not found evidence to indicate that the government of South Sudan has been supplying weapons to armed groups in Sudan.

“We looked into the issue of South Sudan arming rebels in Sudan such as the SPLA-North and the SRF; we had evidence of logistical support, but we didn’t see any concrete evidence of weapons supplies,” he added.

Jonah Leff said the commonly used weapons in South Sudan and Sudan are the assault refiles; AK-47, PK, Machine guns such as Doshka, RPGs, Mortars and 12 barrel rocket launchers.

He said they don’t have evidence to show whether the Sudanese and South Sudanese governments are supporting armed groups in the current conflicts in the two countries.