10:00:00:00 – V/O

Jungle warfare

Pictures we were never meant to see!  The unseen face of Africa’s longest war...  a war that is now entering a new and more bloody phase.  This footage reveals that since oil began flowing, a once-weak and demoralized government army has become one of the best-equipped in Africa.

Missile

But nobody dreamed that oil was buying ballistic missiles like this...

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We obtained this unique footage and showed it to the defence analyst Paul Beaver.

Paul Beaver

Defence Analyst

I’ve never heard of a short-range tactical ballistic missile being used in the war in Sudan. It’s the first time I’ve seen any evidence of it whatsoever and it does mark in my view an escalation...

     If it is what I think it is, then it’s the first time we have seen an Iranian missile in Sudan... A range of about 110 kilometers.  A very indiscriminate weapon.  It has an error of about one to two kilometers. 

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Five months ago, C4 documented the scorched-earth tactics being used to clear Southern Sudan for exploration by international oil companies.  We warned then that oil was paying for bigger and better weapons.

Paul Beaver

Defence Analyst

Up until now we’ve only had anecdotal evidence that oil money has been used to fund big projects like buying weapons.  I can’t see that they’re going to have funded buying a short range tactical ballistic any other way than by somehow bartering oil.

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Battle

This young man was one of two government cameraman who filmed this offensive.  He died on the battlefield and his tapes were seized by the rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army.

    They show a concentration of fire one American expert has likened to Vietnam...

Malik Agar is the SPLA commander who turned back the government offensive.  He says eight missiles were fired - half of them near military positions.

Malik  Agar

SPLA Commander

It’s a very devastating weapon.  Even in terms of sound itself it’s very effective, very scary.

Before oil, the whole fighting was between two weak opponents, literally between two weak opponents...

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Battle

That is no longer the case; this is a new and more powerful army.  The government says oil is paying to develop the South – not to destroy it.  No matter how damaged the film, this missile launch suggests otherwise.

Two-shot

The Sudanese charge d’affaires in Nairobi denied that his government has acquired - and is using - missiles.

Ahmed Dirdiery

Charge d’affaires in Nairobi

This is not true.  It is totally baseless simply because there is no target to be targeted by missiles. Targets are mainly troops.  They are not having any fixed installations to be targeted by missiles...

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Battle

For the last three years, government troops and militias have been systematically clearing oil-rich areas of Southern Sudan.  Despite growing condemnation of the government’s scorched-earth tactics, British companies supply much of the hardware for the oil industry and do much of the security work for oil companies.

     This region in the south-east of the country is the latest area to be opened and cleared... for oil.

Diane De Guzman

Human Rights Consultant

We had heard rumours that there was going to be oil production now in that area.  There was already one area of wells that are producing.  But we were hearing there were going to be new  surveys as well.  No sooner had we heard this information than we began to see villages coming under attack and large numbers of people being displaced.

     You’re seeing government militias literally chasing these people into the bushes as they run.  Women and children being shot as at they flee for their lives to areas of safety.

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Battle: high morale – cameramen - panic 

These government troops went into battle armed to the teeth, their morale sky-high.  But the offensive ended in tragedy for them.  The SPLA says hundreds died and most of their weapons were captured.

Malik  Agar

SPLA Commander

We captured tanks, we captured trucks, we captured weapons – a quantity that could make us defend ourselves for some time.

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Battle

Oil is arming both sides in this stalemated war.  It is perpetuating a human tragedy so vast that the world no longer takes notice. 

Diane De Guzman

Human Rights Consultant

A missile!  You’re not going to hear it coming and when you finally do it’s going to be too late and you’ll be in its path.  It’s terrifying! No-one’s going to be able to protect themselves, not the civilians and not the agencies working on the ground.  It’s going to add a terrifying new dimension to what we’re all going to have to deal with in South Sudan.

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The companies investing in Sudanese oil talk of development and through development peace.   But in these badlands, where the oil originates, that hope has died.