Sudan04 September, 20263 min read
UN Probe Says UAE, Chad, Libya, Somalia Networks Supplied RSF With Drones, Weapons
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Foreign networks abroad recruited, trained, and supplied the RSF with fighters and weapons. UN report says networks provide drones, enable sophisticated operations, prolong Sudan conflict.
9 outlets told this the same way.
UN details foreign fuel
A UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan said on Thursday that foreign weapons, military technology, fighters, and logistical networks are helping sustain Sudan’s conflict and expanding the warring parties’ ability to strike distant civilian areas with drones. The Reuters report said Sudan’s war erupted in April 2023 after a power struggle between the military and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and that the UN mission found grounds to believe a network involving individuals and entities in the United Arab Emirates, Chad, Libya and Somalia supplied the RSF with weapons, equipment, logistics, training and foreign personnel. The UN News report said the mission documented transnational entities operating in several countries recruiting, training, and deploying foreign personnel to support the RSF, as well as facilitating the transfer of weapons, ammunition, and military technology and providing logistical support.
The UN News report also concluded there are reasonable grounds to believe that the SAF used foreign-supplied drones in operations that harmed civilians and civilian objects, while Reuters said the mission accused both sides of serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law in drone operations. Reuters reported that investigators found evidence that foreign-supplied combat drones and loitering munitions expanded the army’s long-range strike capabilities, including attacks on civilian locations such as Yabus Market in Blue Nile State.
Drones, deaths, and denials
The UN probe described drone warfare as expanding range and persistence, and Reuters said it found more than 1,000 people were killed in drone strikes in the first five months of 2026. Reuters also reported that drone attacks documented included strikes by the RSF in Al-Rowa (Kalogi) in South Kordofan that killed 114 people, including about 60 children, and strikes by the Sudanese Armed Forces in El Obeid (El Daya) in East Darfur that killed at least 70 people and destroyed a major hospital. In response to the UN findings, Reuters said the RSF and Sudan’s military did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and that in the past both have denied abuses.
The Reuters report said the UAE has routinely denied accusations that it has backed the RSF militarily, and it quoted the UAE diplomatic mission in Geneva saying it “remains committed to open and constructive dialogue with the Fact Finding Mission”. Reuters added that Somalia’s government said it took the report’s allegations seriously and that it did not permit its territory, airspace or ports to be used for military purposes, while Colombia told investigators it opposed mercenarism and was taking steps to address the participation of Colombian nationals in foreign conflicts.
Calls for embargo and action
The UN investigators urged enforcement of an arms embargo and accountability measures, with Reuters saying the mission reiterated calls for enforcement of an arms embargo on the Darfur region and urged the U.N. Security Council to extend it across all of Sudan.
UN News quoted Mohamad Chande Othman, Chair of the Fact-Finding Mission, saying, “This external support has not brought greater protection for civilians. Instead, civilians are paying the price through attacks on homes, hospitals, schools, markets and places of refuge.”
The UN News report also called on States to exercise due diligence, investigate and stop illicit mercenary and supply networks operating from or through their territories, prevent violations, and enforce the UN arms embargo.
In a separate reaction reported by Al-Jazeera Net, two senior U.S. administration officials called for a comprehensive embargo on weapons supplies to all parts of Sudan, and it said the UAE renewed its denial of supplying weapons or equipment to either side and affirmed that it is not a party to the conflict.
The Al-Jazeera Net report said the UN report’s findings prompted calls for imposing a comprehensive weapons embargo across all of Sudan to end the civil war, while it described the UN report as documenting recruiting foreign nationals and external support networks that strengthen the military capabilities of the warring parties and enable increasingly sophisticated military operations with devastating consequences for civilians.