Sudan: Abusive Combatants Get New Weapons

“Sudan’s conflict is one of the world’s worst humanitarian and human rights crises, with warring parties committing atrocities with impunity, and newly acquired weapons and equipment are likely to be used in the commission of further crimes,” said Jean-Baptiste Gallopin, senior crisis, conflict, and arms researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Fighters from both the SAF and the RSF have since mid-2023 posted photos and videos of new foreign-made kit, such as armed drones and anti-tank guided missiles.”

Human Rights Watch analyzed 49 photos and videos, most apparently filmed by fighters from both sides, posted on the social media platforms Facebook, Telegram, TikTok, and X (formerly known as Twitter), showing weapons used or captured in the conflict. The apparently new equipment that Human Rights Watch identified, which includes armed drones, drone jammers, anti-tank guided missiles, truck-mounted multi-barrel rocket launchers, and mortar munitions, was produced by companies registered in China, Iran, Russia, Serbia, and the UAE. Human Rights Watch was not able to establish how the warring parties acquired the new equipment.

The new visual evidence of equipment not known to previously be in the possession of Sudanese actors, and evidence that it is being used, suggests that the warring parties acquired some of these weapons and equipment after the start of the current conflict in April 2023. In one case, lot numbers indicate the ammunition was manufactured in 2023.

Since the conflict between the SAF and the RSF began in Sudan in April 2023, countless civilians have been killed, millions have been internally displaced, and millions face famine. The SAF and the RSF may use such weapons and equipment to continue to commit war crimes and other serious human rights violations not just in Darfur, but across the country.

The United Nations Security Council is expected to decide on September 11 whether to renew the Sudan sanctions regime, which prohibits the transfer of military equipment to the Darfur region. The sanctions regime was established in 2004, when Darfur was the epicenter of a conflict with 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 expand the arms embargo to the whole country.

These findings demonstrate both the inadequacy of the current Darfur-only embargo and the grave risks posed by the acquisition of new weapons by the warring parties. A countrywide arms embargo would contribute to addressing these issues by facilitating the monitoring of transfers to Darfur and preventing the legal acquisition of weapons for use in other parts of Sudan.

The Sudanese government has opposed an expansion of the arms embargo and in recent months has lobbied members of the Security Council to end the sanctions regime and remove the Darfur embargo altogether.

The prevalence of atrocities by the warring parties creates a real risk that weapons or equipment acquired by the parties would most likely be used to perpetuate serious violations of human rights and humanitarian law, harming civilians.

Two verified videos filmed by drones and posted on pro-SAF social media accounts show the drones attacking unarmed people in civilian clothes in Bahri (Khartoum North), one of Khartoum’s twin cities. One video, posted to X by a pro-SAF account on January 14, shows a drone dropping two mortar projectiles on apparently unarmed people in civilian clothes as they cross a street in Bahri, killing one person on the spot and leaving four others motionless after the explosions.

Another video, posted to a pro-SAF account on March 19, 2024, shows a drone dropping a munition on people wearing civilian clothes who are loading a truck with apparent sacks of grain or flour in the busy courtyard of the Seen flour mills in Bahri, injuring or killing a man who lies motionless on the floor. No weapons or military equipment are seen near the targeted areas in either video.

Ending the arms embargo would end the work of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan. The panel is one of the few entities that provides the Security Council with regular, in-depth reporting on the conflict in Sudan since the SAF-aligned government successfully demanded the closure of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan in December 2023.

In recent weeks, the discussion around renewal at the Security Council has shifted toward a renewal of the Darfur embargo and associated sanctions regime, which means, if adopted, the status quo would continue.

The Sudan sanctions regime has faced challenges since its inception. The Panel of Experts and Amnesty International have documented that the governments of Belarus, China, and Russia violated the embargo for years, yet only one individual has ever been sanctioned for violating the embargo. In a report published in July, Amnesty International found that “recently manufactured weapons and military equipment from countries such as Russia, China, Türkiye, and the UAE are being imported in large quantities into Sudan, and then diverted into Darfur.”

At a minimum, the Security Council should proceed with the planned “technical rollover” and maintain the existing Sudan sanctions regime, which, despite its limitations, provides the UN and Security Council members with crucial reporting and tools for sanctions. It should also take more robust actions in the face of violations of the existing embargo, notably by sanctioning the individuals and entities violating it.

“The Security Council should expand the Darfur arms embargo to all of Sudan to curb the flow of arms that may be used to commit war crimes,” Gallopin said. “The Security Council should publicly condemn individual governments that are violating the existing arms embargo on Darfur and take urgently needed measures to sanction individuals and entities that are violating the embargo.”