S.Sudan to acquire anti-aircraft missiles

Juba, 17 May – (ANA) - South Sudan will soon acquire anti-aircraft missiles to defend its territory against air attacks it says are frequently carried out by warplanes from neighbouring Sudan, the South Sudanese military said yesterday. Since South Sudan became the world's newest independent nation in July last year, its government has accused northern neighbour Sudan of continuing aerial bombing raids on South Sudanese territory, a charge routinely denied by Khartoum. Foreign reporters in South Sudan have witnessed bombings by Sudanese warplanes of targets including a market, a refugee camp and oil infrastructure, and border skirmishes between the two countries' armies last month included a series of air raids by the northern nation. The United Nations' top human rights official said on Friday she was outraged by Sudan's "indiscriminate" bombings of South Sudan that killed and injured civilians, after U.N. officials verified damage and casualties caused by recent raids. (ANA)

FA/ANA/17 May 2012---------