The Chinese government has supplied more modern and advanced weapon systems to the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), while Kenya has seized weapons bound to the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) routed through the port of Mombassa saying that it constitutes a clear violation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) according to a recent press report.

According to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) there are three recognized army groups; the Joint Integrated Unit, the Sudan Armed Forces and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. The CPA recognizes each of these armies as legitimate independent entities.

United Press International (UPI) reported on February 15, 2008 in Terra Daily website in its analysis that the Chinese Type 96 ( also called Type 88C ) tanks were spotted in Sudan last year, indicating that China has exported one of its most modern tanks to Africa.

According to the International News Agency and Strategy website of February 20, the 50 ton Type 96 has a three man crew and modern sensors and electronics. The 90 series tanks are of Chinese design, and there appears to be as many as 2500 Type 90 series tanks in service, with as many as two thirds of them Type 96s. There are another 700 Type 79s and 80s, both of which were stepping stones to the 90 series. Most Chinese tanks, about 5,000, are Type 59s. Most of these have been upgraded from being a clone of the Russian T-54 to T-54 clones equipped with western  guns ( copy of the British L7 105mm gun, firing depleted uranium shells) and modern electronics. China has also a copy of the German 120mm gun, which it may try to install in some Type 59 upgrades.

Those Type 59s that don’t get upgraded are being scrapped. This apparently means that the Type 59 force will shrink by at least several hundred tanks a year until all are gone.

Sudan has, until recently, had a tank force consisting mostly of about 200 Chinese Type 59s, but some of these appear to have been upgraded by the Chinese. Also spotted in Sudan have been Chinese Type 92 wheeled infantry fighting vehicle (similar to the U.S Stryker ).

China is very strict about keeping information on its tank force secret. The most modern tanks they have are the Type 98 and 99, which come close to matching early models of the U.S. M-1.

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Meanwhile, the Kenyan government on February 14, seized at the port of Mombassa 50 tanks for the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) saying it is a member of the CPA Assessment and Evaluation Commission and one of the sponsors of Sudan’s peace deal.

According to the Khartoum based Al-Ray Al-Aam, Nairobi has said that SPLA military capabilities build-up is contrary to the signed peace agreement.

The 2005 peace deal between the former rebel movement and the Khartoum government ended one of Africa’s longest civil wars, bringing many fighters out of the bush.

In accordance with the CPA, the Sudan Armed Forces and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army constitute the Sudan’s National Armed Forces during the interim period that are administered differently. Each is independent to develop its forces capacity.

The seized containers are the first batch of weapons contracted by the SPLA from former Soviet Union states, rocket launchers, artillery and aircraft had not yet arrived, the Kenyan sources disclosed.

The independent daily pointed out that there were a number of containers of spare parts for military vehicles and weapons in Mombassa port.

The United States has started military training for SPLA troops in order to transform the former rebel army into a professional army.

Washington denied that contracts with a specialized firm, DynCorp, included any arms deal with southern Sudan’s government, which donors say has funnelled the biggest chunk of its budget – some 40 percent – into defence.

Source: Staff Writers, Juba Post, Juba, South Sudan, 22-29^th February  2008 / Strategy Page

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Blacks in Hispanic Literature: Critical Essays Edited by Miriam DeCosta-Willis  Blacks in Hispanic Literature is a collection of fourteen essays by scholars and creative writers from Africa and the Americas. Called one of two significant critical works on Afro-Hispanic literature to appear in the late 1970s, it includes the pioneering studies of Carter G. Woodson and Valaurez B. Spratlin, published in the 1930s, as well as the essays of scholars whose interpretations were shaped by the Black aesthetic. The early essays, primarily of the Black-as-subject in Spanish medieval and Golden Age literature, provide an historical context for understanding 20th-century creative works by African-descended, Hispanophone writers, such as Cuban Nicolás Guillén and Ecuadorean poet, novelist, and scholar Adalberto Ortiz, whose essay analyzes the significance of Negritude in Latin America. This collaborative text set the tone for later conferences in which writers and scholars worked together to promote, disseminate, and critique the literature of Spanish-speaking people of African descent. . . . Cited by a literary critic in 2004 as "the seminal study in the field of Afro-Hispanic Literature . . . on which most scholars in the field 'cut their teeth'."

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Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America By Melissa V. Harris-Perry According to the author, this society has historically exerted considerable pressure on black females to fit into one of a handful of stereotypes, primarily, the Mammy, the Matriarch or the Jezebel.  The selfless Mammy’s behavior is marked by a slavish devotion to white folks’ domestic concerns, often at the expense of those of her own family’s needs. By contrast, the relatively-hedonistic Jezebel is a sexually-insatiable temptress. And the Matriarch is generally thought of as an emasculating figure who denigrates black men, ala the characters Sapphire and Aunt Esther on the television shows Amos and Andy and Sanford and Son, respectively.      Professor Perry points out how the propagation of these harmful myths have served the mainstream culture well. For instance, the Mammy suggests that it is almost second nature for black females to feel a maternal instinct towards Caucasian babies. As for the source of the Jezebel, black women had no control over their own bodies during slavery given that they were being auctioned off and bred to maximize profits. Nonetheless, it was in the interest of plantation owners to propagate the lie that sisters were sluts inclined to mate indiscriminately.

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The White Masters of the World

From The World and Africa, 1965

By W. E. B. Du Bois

W. E. B. Du Bois’ Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization (Fletcher)

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Ancient African Nations

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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan  /  The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll  /  Only a Pawn in Their Game

Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for Slavery / George Jackson  / Hurricane Carter

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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg

The Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804  / January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of Haiti 

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BLACK CLASSIC BOOKS   BCP Digital Printing

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posted 25 March 2008