Foreign weapons, military technology and fighters are prolonging and intensifying Sudan's war, UN investigators warned this week, saying the conflict is spreading geographically and becoming more dangerous for civilians.

Source: AnewZ, reporting the UN Fact-Finding Mission presentation

Members of the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan presented their latest findings at UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday, October 28, and called for stronger international action, including an expansion of the arms embargo, according to the mission's presentation to the General Assembly's Third Committee.

"Our investigation found reasonable grounds to believe that external transfer of weapons, military technology, logistic support, and foreign personnel continue to sustain and intensify the conflict," the mission's chair, Mohamed Chande Othman, said. "We also found that external actors supplied both parties, and this helps sustain their military operations. The result is increasingly visible on the ground."

2,000former Colombian military contractors the mission reported in Darfur and Kordofan, fighting alongside the RSF
56 millionSudan's population — a country the mission said is being destroyed by the war
April 2023when the war between Sudan's army (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) began

A cross-border supply network

Asked who was arming the Sudanese army and the RSF, Othman said investigators had identified a cross-border network supplying weapons and training foreign fighters, involving individuals and entities in Chad, southeast Libya, Somalia's Puntland region and the United Arab Emirates, AnewZ reported. The mission is urging those states to strengthen their due-diligence obligations, given the direct consequences for civilians.

Othman stressed that the findings do not, at this stage, implicate the governments themselves. "We have not yet, in terms of our evidence, linked any of the neighbouring states as states," he said. Chad denies that its territory has been used to supply the warring parties, and the UAE has repeatedly denied arming the RSF.

Source: AnewZ

Foreign drones on both sides

According to a detailed summary of the mission's report, foreign suppliers have significantly enhanced the drone capabilities of both sides. The mission said the RSF obtained Chinese-made CH-95 strike drones, while the SAF obtained Turkish-made weapons including Bayraktar Akinci combat drones and YIHA-III loitering munitions. It documented an RSF drone strike in Kalogi, South Kordofan, that it said killed 114 people, and SAF strikes in Ad-Da'ein, East Darfur, that it said killed at least 70 people and destroyed a hospital. These tolls are the mission's documented findings; the RSF has denied using foreign mercenaries.

Source: SOFX, summarising the UN Fact-Finding Mission report

The mission said this support fed into RSF operations in the Zamzam displacement camp and during the takeover of El Fasher, where it documented grave violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, including conduct it said displayed hallmarks of genocide. It called for accountability across the whole chain of responsibility — including those who finance, supply, facilitate or otherwise enable crimes — and said protection, prevention and accountability are essential to a just and sustainable peace in Sudan.

This foreign-weapons report is a separate finding from the same mission's El Obeid report published earlier this week, which documented drone strikes and mass arrests endangering civilians in North Kordofan.