The Sudanese military has moved a Chinese-made multiple rocket launcher system to South Kordofan in preparation for a campaign against the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-North (SPLM-N).
SPLM-N controls much of the Nuba Mountains and has been battling the government since 2011. The territories under its control are frequently bombarded by warplanes and artillery.
New satellite images taken by the Satellite Sentinel Project (SSP) on 9 April shows that the Sudanese military deployed a Weishi-01 (WS-01) multiple rocket launcher along with another type of artillery to the area south of Delaba, South Kordofan.
The WS-01 is a Chinese-made weapons system that launches rockets with a maximum range of 100 km or more. The rockets can be fitted with various types of warheads, but the only ones known to have been used in Sudan are warheads with steel ball bearings.
Although Sudan has previously used the Weishi rockets in South Kordofan, this is the only recent report of a sighting of the powerful weapon.
Last March 2013 the Swiss-based organization Small Arms Survey stated in a report that they found that 302 mm Weishi rockets were used in the South Kordofan region using a warhead filled with steel ball bearings.
The Small Arms Survey has also documented the use of WS-1 302 mm Weishi long-range rockets in Blue Nile State in late 2011.
“Even if these rockets appear to have caused only limited casualties, the size and range clearly had an important psychological effect on the civilian population and, to some extent, on SPLM-N fighters,” the organization stated in its March 2013 report.
Weishi rockets are launched from a launch truck with launch tubes. A satellite image from South Kordofan also shows that the rocket launcher in Delaba is accompanied by a WS-01 resupply vehicle.
The satellite images published by Satellite Sentinel Project are the outcome of a partnership between commercial satellite company DigitalGlobe and the Enough Project. The initiative is associated with US activists John Prendergast and actor George Clooney.
Photo: Weishi rockets and launch truck (army-guide.com)
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Sudan army preparing for major offensive in Nuba Mountains (16 Apr.)