Since the escalation of the conflict in April 2023, Sudan has been engulfed in a massive human rights and humanitarian crisis. The fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and their allies has killed over 16,650 people and displaced millions of others making Sudan the largest internal displacement crisis globally. All parties to the conflict are using a wide variety of arms to commit serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, in some instances amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
This conflict is being fueled by an almost unimpeded supply of weapons into Sudan by states and corporate actors around the world. Nearly all neighboring countries are used by various armed groups and states as supply lines to transfer weapons into and around Sudan.
The response of the international community, and particularly the UN Security Council (UNSC), has been woefully inadequate. The current UN arms embargo is both too narrowly focused – covering only the Darfur region – and too poorly implemented to have any meaningful impact on curbing these weapons flows. It took almost a year for the UNSC to adopt a resolution calling for immediate cessation of hostilities and unhindered humanitarian access. Despite this, fighting continues across the country with no effective measures to end violations or protect civilians.
This report reveals the true extent of these failures: despite the mandatory UNSC embargo which has been in place for two decades, recently manufactured weapons and military equipment from countries such as Russia, China, Türkiye, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are being imported in large quantities into Sudan, and then diverted into Darfur. Weapons and ammunition are also being smuggled into the country directly through Darfur including after April 2023. An assessment of visual evidence places some of these weapons directly in the hands of parties to the conflict who stand accused of serious human rights abuses.
The research has also identified recently-manufactured or recently-transferred small arms and ammunition from countries such as Serbia, Yemen, and China being used on the battlefield by various parties to the conflict. Advanced drone jammers, mortars and anti-materiel rifles manufactured in China have been used by both sides of the conflict, including in Darfur. A variety of recently-manufactured armored personnel carriers from the UAE have been used by the RSF, also in Darfur. Shipment-level trade data indicates that hundreds of thousands of blank guns have been exported to Sudan in recent years, along with millions of blank cartridges; Amnesty International believes that these are being converted en masse into lethal weapons in Sudan.
Read “New Weapons Fueling the Sudan Conflict: Expanding Existing Arms Embargo Across Sudan to Protect Civilians”