A new publication by the Small Arms Survey, “Supply and Demand: Arms flows and holdings in Sudan,” provides the most up-to-date assessments of the military capacities of Sudan’s contending parties.

The briefing documents the ongoing supplies of weaponry to the governments in Khartoum and Juba. Among the major supplies to the Sudan Government are Belarus, China, Iran and Russia. The major supplier to the SPLA is Ukraine, via Kenya. It estimates that despite an estimated 470,000 arms in the hands of the Sudan Government security forces, the majority of small arms–a further 1.24 million in the north and 720,000 in the south–are in the hands of private citizens. The Small Arms Survey finds that the UN embargo on weapons supplies to Darfur is ineffective, and that European arms suppliers circumvent the EU prohibition on arms supplies to Sudan by providing weapons indirectly.

The briefing also provides estimates for the numerical size of the various armed groups in Sudan.