A symbolic but futile measure. On Thursday 11 September, the United Nations Security Council renewed for one year the arms embargo on Darfur, in western Sudan. The sanctions regime imposed but since then circumvented 2004, however, seems more obsolete than ever. The conflict that has been pitting, since April 15, 2023, the Sudanese army, led by General Abdel Fattah Al-Bourhane, against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of General Mohammed Hamdan Daglo, known as “Hemetti”, is also devastating other parts of the country. territory, including the capital.
By refusing to extend this embargo to the whole country, the Security Council missed the opportunity to influence this life-or-death struggle for power, which has caused the worst humanitarian crisis in the world: 150,000 dead, according to the special envoy for Sudan, Tom Perriello, 11 million displaced and the declaration of a state of famine by the Darfur Famine Review Committee. A sanction which was nevertheless recommended by the UN fact-finding mission. “to end the supply of arms, ammunition and logistical or financial support to the parties to the conflict”. An opinion shared by the organization Human Rights Watch according to which “The ‘Darfur-only’ aspect of this embargo makes no sense today, in the context of a conflict affecting most of Sudan’s federal states.”.
In addition to the geographic expansion of the embargo, the UN Human Rights Council’s fact-finding mission called for UN intervention in Sudan. “Given the inability of the warring parties to save civilians, it is imperative that an independent and impartial force with a mandate to protect civilians be deployed without delay.”said its president, Mohamed Chande Othman. The recommendation was immediately denounced by the Sudanese Sovereign Council of General Abdel Fattah Al-Bourhane.
“The real way to end this conflict is not to impose another unenforceable embargo but to exert direct pressure on the foreign powers that supply ammunition to both armies.”estimates Magdi El-Gizouli, a researcher at the Rift Valley Institute, who insists that “ the leading role of the United Arab Emirates ».
Chinese, Serbian, Iranian, Russian and Emirati weapons.
In this factional struggle fuelled by regional powers, Abu Dhabi is accused by the Sudanese army of supplying arms to the RSF. Several investigations, notably by the UN group of experts, identified Amdjarass airport in eastern Chad in January 2024 as a crossing point for weapons, ammunition and medical equipment arriving from the Emirates to Sudan, particularly Darfur. The deliveries were ultimately intended for Hemetti’s forces. While air traffic was temporarily halted, flights from Abu Dhabi to Chad, operated by the same private airlines, have resumed since August 2024, says a security source.
According to Human Rights Watch research, Chinese, Serbian, Iranian, Russian, and Emirati-made weapons have been delivered since the start of hostilities. For example, the FSR uses a combat drone whose thermobaric projectiles are manufactured by the Serbian state-owned company, Yugoimport. The latter delivered some to the United Arab Emirates in 2020. However, Human Rights Watch cannot determine with certainty their transport route to Sudan. General “Hemetti’s” militias have also equipped themselves with Chinese mortar ammunition and drone jammers, manufactured in 2023, also imported in violation of the sanctions regime.
As for the Sudanese army, it has purchased the latest generation Mohajer-6 drones directly from the arms company linked to the Iranian Ministry of Defence. An Amnesty International investigation indicates that several Turkish manufacturers supply weapons to the national army of General Al-Bourhane, who boasts of his proximity to Ankara. Another supplier country, Russia – which successively supported the FSR and then the national army – harshly criticised the “inadmissible character” measures imposed on the Sudanese authorities.
“These elements reinforce the idea that third states are involved in supplying arms to Sudan”says Jean-Baptiste Gallopin, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, for whom “The extension of the embargo seemed obvious to us in view of the ethnic cleansing and human rights violations taking place in the country”.
A way out of the crisis still seems out of reach. Discussions held in Switzerland in August to expand humanitarian access and establish a ceasefire ended in failure due to the absence of representatives of Abdel Fattah Al-Bourhane’s Sovereign Council at the negotiating table. Instead of going to Geneva, the general vowed that he would be ready to “fight for a hundred years”.
