The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Fast Help Forces (RSF), opponents chargeable for widespread conflict crimes and different atrocities within the present battle in Sudan, have newly acquired trendy foreign-made weapons and navy gear, Human Rights Watch mentioned in a report released today. The United Nations Safety Council ought to renew and increase the arms embargo and its restrictions on the Darfur area to all of Sudan and maintain violators to account.
“Sudan’s battle is likely one of the world’s worst humanitarian and human rights crises, with opponents committing atrocities with impunity, and newly acquired weapons and gear are seemingly for use within the fee of additional crimes,” mentioned Jean-Baptiste Gallopin, senior disaster, battle, and arms researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Fighters from each the SAF and the RSF have since mid-2023 posted photographs and movies of recent foreign-made kits, akin to armed drones and anti-tank guided missiles.”
Human Rights Watch analyzed 49 photographs and movies, most apparently filmed by fighters from either side, posted on the social media platforms Fb, Telegram, TikTok, and X (previously referred to as Twitter), displaying weapons used or captured within the battle. The apparently new gear that Human Rights Watch recognized, which incorporates armed drones, drone jammers, anti-tank guided missiles, truck-mounted multi-barrel rocket launchers, and mortar munitions, was produced by firms registered in China, Iran, Russia, Serbia, and the UAE. Human Rights Watch was not in a position to set up how the opponents acquired the brand new gear.
The brand new visible proof of kit not recognized to beforehand be within the possession of Sudanese actors, and proof that it’s getting used, means that the opponents acquired a few of these weapons and gear after the beginning of the present battle in April 2023. In a single case, lot numbers point out the ammunition was manufactured in 2023.
Because the battle between the SAF and the RSF started in Sudan in April 2023, countless civilians have been killed, thousands and thousands have been internally displaced, and thousands and thousands face famine. The SAF and the RSF might use such weapons and gear to proceed to commit conflict crimes and different severe human rights violations not simply in Darfur, however throughout the nation.
The United Nations Safety Council is anticipated to resolve on September 11 whether or not to resume the Sudan sanctions regime, which prohibits the switch of navy gear to the Darfur area. The sanctions regime was established in 2004, when Darfur was the epicenter of a battle with widespread human rights abuses, conflict crimes, and ethnic cleaning. Since April 2023, the brand new battle has affected most of Sudan’s states, however Safety Council members have but to take steps to increase the arms embargo to the entire nation.
These findings reveal each the inadequacy of the present Darfur-only embargo and the grave dangers posed by the acquisition of recent weapons by the opponents. A national arms embargo would contribute to addressing these points by facilitating the monitoring of transfers to Darfur and stopping the authorized acquisition of weapons to be used in different elements of Sudan.
The Sudanese authorities has opposed an growth of the arms embargo and in current months has lobbied members of the Safety Council to finish the sanctions regime and take away the Darfur embargo altogether.
The prevalence of atrocities by the opponents creates an actual threat that weapons or gear acquired by the events would almost definitely be used to perpetuate severe violations of human rights and humanitarian regulation, harming civilians.
Two verified movies filmed by drones and posted on pro-SAF social media accounts present the drones attacking unarmed folks in civilian garments in Bahri (Khartoum North), considered one of Khartoum’s twin cities. One video, posted to X by a pro-SAF account on January 14, exhibits a drone dropping two mortar projectiles on apparently unarmed folks in civilian garments as they cross a avenue in Bahri, killing one individual on the spot and leaving 4 others immobile after the explosions.
One other video, posted to a pro-SAF account on March 19, 2024, exhibits a drone dropping a munition on folks carrying civilian garments who’re loading a truck with obvious sacks of grain or flour within the busy courtyard of the Seen flour mills in Bahri, injuring or killing a person who lies immobile on the ground. No weapons or navy gear are seen close to the focused areas in both video.
Ending the arms embargo would finish the work of the Panel of Consultants on the Sudan. The panel is likely one of the few entities that gives the Safety Council with common, in-depth reporting on the battle in Sudan because the SAF-aligned authorities efficiently demanded the closure of the United Nations Built-in Transition Help Mission in Sudan in December 2023.
In current weeks, the dialogue round renewal on the Safety Council has shifted towards a renewal of the Darfur embargo and related sanctions regime, which suggests, if adopted, the established order would proceed.
The Sudan sanctions regime has confronted challenges since its inception. The Panel of Consultants and Amnesty Worldwide have documented that the governments of Belarus, China, and Russia violated the embargo for years, but just one particular person has ever been sanctioned for violating the embargo. In a report published in July, Amnesty Worldwide discovered that “not too long ago manufactured weapons and navy gear from nations akin to Russia, China, Türkiye, and the UAE are being imported in giant portions into Sudan, after which diverted into Darfur.”
At a minimal, the Safety Council ought to proceed with the deliberate “technical rollover” and preserve the present Sudan sanctions regime, which, regardless of its limitations, offers the UN and Safety Council members with essential reporting and instruments for sanctions. It also needs to take extra strong actions within the face of violations of the present embargo, notably by sanctioning the people and entities violating it.
“The Safety Council ought to increase the Darfur arms embargo to all of Sudan to curb the circulate of arms which may be used to commit conflict crimes,” Gallopin mentioned. “The Safety Council ought to publicly condemn particular person governments which can be violating the present arms embargo on Darfur and take urgently wanted measures to sanction people and entities which can be violating the embargo.”
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Human Rights Watch (HRW).