The reported besieging of hundreds of South African troops in Sudan was not the first time our soldiers have faced deadly threats and attacks by the Sudanese government-backed militia. This week reports emerged that 800 South African soldiers were surrounded in their bases in the Darfur region of Sudan.The siege, denied by South Africa's Defence Ministry and the UN - under whose mandate South African peacekeepers are serving in Sudan - was allegedly linked to attempts by legal and human rights activists to have Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir arrested while attending the African Union summit in Johannesburg at the weekend.Al-Bashir is wanted on arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court. The warrants are for genocide and war crimes that resulted in the murder of more than 300000 people and the displacement of 2 million others in a decade of fighting.Attacks on South African soldiers in Sudan have allegedly occurred since 2006.Then South African soldiers guarding a satellite police station were reportedly overwhelmed and robbed of their weapons and radios.Also in 2006, South African troops escorting an AU convoy carrying diesel fuel were ambushed and the tankers stolen.Since then:Two SANDF soldiers were critically injured outside Kutum while guarding a well in October 2014;Thirty SANDF soldiers were ambushed and robbed of rifles, bullet-proof vests and three vehicles in February 2014;An SANDF soldier was killed and two injured in an ambush in October 2012; andFour South African peacekeepers were kidnapped in an ambush in April 2011.The latest al-Bashir scandal has further endangered South African troops in Sudan.Defence analysts say SANDF troops are deliberately left poorly armed and equipped by the Sudanese government - which refuses to allow them to have armoured vehicles fitted with heavy weapons - and have been ambushed, kidnapped and killed.Their bases are poorly constructed with only that at Kutum having a perimeter wall and reinforced-concrete firing positions.The Mellit and el-Malha bases have only razor wire perimeter fences.The nearby Sudanese army base, where hundreds of soldiers are stationed, houses T54 tanks, armoured personnel carriers, heavy machine-guns, mortars and rocket propelled grenades.Michael Pearce, who designed 32 bases for the then AU mission in Sudan, including the South African bases, said they had not been designed as defensive bases."The South Africans have light armoured personnel carriers that are not heavily defended. There are four armoured vehicles per base each fitted with a 12.7mm machine-gun."Kutum is the only camp with a wall around it. The others have razor wire fences and no concrete bunkers. Since we built the bases the defences haven't changed," Pearce said.Defence analyst Helmoed Heitman said it was suspected that government-backed militias were behind the spate of assaults."They occur because we're so lightly armed. The UN has no reaction force in Sudan making it difficult to respond to such incidents," Heitman said...