UN Probe: Foreign Weapons, Drones Fueling Sudan War
AFRICAGEOPOLITICS
A UN fact-finding mission said foreign weapons, military technology, fighters and logistics networks are sustaining Sudan's war and expanding both warring parties' ability to strike distant civilian areas with drones.
The mission found grounds to believe a network involving individuals and entities in the UAE, Chad, Libya and Somalia supplied the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) with weapons, equipment, training and foreign personnel, including up to 2,000 Colombian contractors who helped operate advanced weapons systems, some present during operations around al-Fashir, Darfur — captured by the RSF in October 2025 in an assault the mission has previously said bore hallmarks of genocide.
The UAE denied providing arms or military materiel; Somalia said it had not permitted use of its territory but acknowledged information-sharing "gaps"; Colombia said it opposed mercenarism and was addressing its nationals' involvement.
The report also found, at an early stage of investigation, that foreign-supplied combat drones and loitering munitions had expanded the Sudanese military's long-range strike capacity, including attacks on civilian sites such as Yabus Market in Blue Nile State. More than 1,000 people were killed in drone strikes in the first five months of 2026, the mission said, accusing both sides of serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, with some conduct amounting to war crimes. Between May and July, repeated RSF drone strikes on El Obeid, North Kordofan's capital, damaged electricity and fuel infrastructure, disrupting water, healthcare and transport in a city already under partial siege. Army strikes were separately linked to at least 70 deaths at Ad-Da'ein Teaching Hospital in East Darfur.
Sudan's war, which began in April 2023 amid a power struggle between the military and the RSF, has displaced more than 14 million people. The mission renewed calls for enforcement of the existing arms embargo on Darfur and urged the UN Security Council to extend it across all of Sudan. The RSF and Sudan's military did not immediately respond to requests for comment; both have previously denied abuses.