![Drone attack on Port Sudan targeting an oil depot on May 5, 2025. [Photo courtesy]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sudanspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/495383161_1121966229974921_6881756979701582258_n.jpg?ssl=1)
The UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan said foreign recruitment, weapons transfers and logistical networks operating across several countries were strengthening the military capabilities of parties to the conflict, with civilians bearing much of the cost.
The investigators documented what they described as transnational networks involved in recruiting, training and deploying foreign personnel to support the RSF, as well as facilitating transfers of weapons, ammunition and military technology.
The report also found reasonable grounds to believe that the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) had used foreign-supplied drones in military operations that harmed civilians and civilian objects.
“The consequences of this external support are being felt most acutely by civilians,” Mohamad Chande Othman, chair of the Fact-Finding Mission, said.
“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.”
Sudan has been engulfed in war since April 2023, when fighting erupted between the SAF, headed by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the RSF, commanded by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti.
The UN investigators said foreign assistance had helped expand the use of drones by both sides, increasing their ability to conduct strikes at considerable distances from the main battlefields.
The report documented the deployment of as many as 2,000 former Colombian military contractors who it said were directly involved alongside RSF units in Darfur and Kordofan, including in the operation of combat drones, artillery and other advanced weapons.
Investigators said there were reasonable grounds to believe that private entities, recruiters and logistical facilitators operating from countries including Colombia and the United Arab Emirates used transit points in Chad, southeastern Libya and the Somali city of Bosaso to move personnel, training, weapons and logistical supplies to the RSF.
Mona Rishmawi, a member of the mission, said investigators had identified “a transnational chain of networks spanning several countries” supplying the RSF with foreign personnel, training, weapons and logistical assistance.
“This support fed into RSF operations in Zamzam camp and later during the takeover of El-Fasher, where the Mission documented grave human rights and international humanitarian law violations and international crimes, including conduct displaying hallmarks of genocide,” she said.
The findings come as drones have assumed an increasingly prominent role in Sudan’s war, allowing the belligerents to attack targets well beyond areas of direct ground combat. The mission said foreign suppliers had substantially enhanced the drone capabilities of both the SAF and RSF.
Investigators said states connected to the supply chains had obligations under international law to investigate and disrupt illicit mercenary and weapons networks operating from or through their territories and to prevent transfers that could contribute to serious violations.
The mission called for enforcement of the existing UN arms embargo on Darfur and urged the UN Security Council to extend the restrictions to the whole of Sudan. It also called for investigations into individuals and entities involved in illicit support networks.
Othman said repeated international warnings over abuses in Sudan had failed to produce sufficient action.
“Those warnings must now translate into action,” he said.
“Protecting civilians in Sudan requires taking action not only against those waging this war, but also against the individuals, entities, and networks that enable its continuation.”
