Warring Parties in Sudan Acquire New Weapons Citizens
Moatinoon
Human Rights Watch said in a report released today that the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have recently acquired new, modern military weapons and equipment from foreign sources. The organization called on the United Nations Security Council to renew and expand the arms embargo, imposing restrictions across all of Sudan and holding violators accountable.
Jean-Baptiste Gallopin, Senior Researcher on Crises, Conflicts, and Weapons at Human Rights Watch, stated, "The conflict in Sudan is one of the world’s worst humanitarian and human rights crises, where warring parties are committing atrocities with impunity, and the newly acquired weapons and equipment will likely be used to commit further crimes." He added, "Since mid-2023, fighters from the SAF and RSF have posted photos and videos of new foreign equipment, such as armed drones and anti-tank guided missiles."
The organization said it analyzed 49 images and videos, most of which were apparently filmed by fighters from both sides and shared on social media platforms like Facebook, Telegram, TikTok, and X (formerly Twitter). These images show weapons being used or seized in the conflict, including armed drones, drone jammers, anti-tank guided missiles, multiple rocket launchers mounted on trucks, and mortar shells produced by companies registered in China, Iran, Russia, Serbia, and the UAE. The organization noted it could not determine how the warring parties obtained this new equipment.
The new visual evidence of equipment, previously unknown to be in Sudanese hands, indicates that the warring parties acquired some of these weapons and equipment after the current conflict began in April 2023. In one case, batch numbers indicate that ammunition was manufactured in 2023.
The United Nations Security Council is expected to decide on September 11 whether to renew the sanctions regime on Sudan, which prohibits the transfer of military equipment to the Darfur region. The sanctions were imposed in 2004 when Darfur was the center of a conflict marked by widespread human rights abuses, war crimes, and ethnic cleansing. Since April 2023, the new conflict has affected most of Sudan’s states, but Security Council members have yet to take steps to extend the arms embargo to the entire country.
The organization said the findings show that the current arms embargo, limited to Darfur, is insufficient, and that the warring parties’ access to new weapons poses a serious risk. It added that a nationwide arms embargo could help address these issues by facilitating monitoring of transfers to Darfur and preventing legal acquisition of weapons for use in other parts of Sudan.
The sanctions regime on Sudan has faced challenges since its inception. Both the UN Panel of Experts and Amnesty International have documented that governments such as Belarus, China, and Russia have violated the embargo for years, though only one individual has ever been sanctioned for breaching it. Amnesty International found in a report published in July that “recently manufactured weapons and military equipment from countries such as Russia, China, Turkey, and the UAE are being imported into Sudan in large quantities and then diverted to Darfur.”
Gallopin said, “The Security Council should expand the arms embargo imposed on Darfur to cover all of Sudan to curb the flow of weapons that could be used to commit war crimes.” He added, “The Security Council must publicly condemn individual governments violating the current arms embargo on Darfur and take urgent action to sanction individuals and entities breaching the embargo.”
Lifting the arms embargo would end the work of the Panel of Experts on Sudan. The panel is one of the few entities providing regular, in-depth reports to the Security Council on the conflict in Sudan, following the Sudanese government, aligned with the SAF, successfully demanding the closure of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan in December 2023.
