News Article by AFP posted on July 01, 2000 at 10:38:57: EST (-5 GMT)
Sudan to achieve self-sufficiency in weapons: spokesman
KHARTOUM, July 1 (AFP) - Sudan will be capable of producing all
the
weapons and ammunition it needs by the end of the year thanks to
its growing
oil industry, the armed forces spokesman said in remarks
published Saturday.
Khartoum, which has been fighting a civil war against rebels
since 1983,
"will this year reach self-sufficiency in light, medium
and heavy weapons
from its local production," spokesman General
Mohamed Osman Yassin was quoted
as saying by Al-Share Al-Syasi
newspaper.
Yassin told a gathering of student army conscripts that Sudan
was now
manufacturing ammunition, mortars, tanks and armoured
personnel carriers, but
he did not specify whether any foreign
expertise was involved.
He added that Sudan embarked on the military industry project
during its
"unprecedented economic boom, particularly in the field
of oil exploration
and exportation and the remarkable progress in
light and heavy industries."
Sudan began exporting crude oil last August and inaugurated a
refinery
Friday which will produce butane gas for export.