A forthcoming UN report has detailed complex logistics routes allegedly used to arm Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), highlighting cross-border movements through Chad and Libya, and potential airlifts into Darfur — but stops short of identifying the source of the weapons.
The 2024 UN Panel of Experts report, leaked and obtained by the Sudan Tribune, focuses on RSF supply lines, including routes from Chad’s Am Djarass airport and Libya into Sudan’s Darfur region. It notes the establishment of a logistics hub at Bir Mirgui in North Darfur by the paramilitary group and night flights at Nyala airport in South Darfur, bombed by Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in late 2024. Meanwhile, a separate, leaked 2023 UN report — published by The Guardian — documented “consistent pattern”of cargo flights from UAE airports to Chad using Ilyushin Il-76TD aircraft, which indicates that a “new regional air bridge” was established.
While the report observed flight anomalies and ties to past arms transfers, it found no conclusive evidence of weapons aboard, warning it was “premature to infer that these flights were part of an arms transfer network.”
These revelations come as Sudan pursues a genocide case against the UAE at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing it of arming the RSF. The UAE has rejected the allegations as baseless, adding that it is committed to bringing “lasting peace“ to Sudan.