A report by Amnesty International showed that the arms embargo that has been in place on Darfur is being explicitly flouted by the movement of foreign weapons into and surrounding Sudan.
“This conflict is being fuelled 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 report reads.
“One disturbing trend identified by Amnesty International is the diversion of small arms normally sold into the civilian market to government forces and armed opposition groups.
Companies in Türkiye and in Russia have exported variants of small arms such as Tigr designated marksman rifles (DMR)s or Saiga-MK rifles, manufactured by Kalashnikov Concern and normally marketed to civilian gun owners, to arms dealers with strong links to the Sudanese Army,” the report adds.
Amnesty International investigators investigated 1,900 shipment documents from two different shipment-level trade information providers, as well as open source and digital evidence, roughly 2,000 verified photos and videos, that revealed only recently purchased or manufactured weapons being used by groups to the war in Sudan, including Darfur, as well as remote sensing techniques to conduct research into these weapon flows.
Between February and March 2024, Amnesty International also conducted interviews with 17 regional specialists on weaponry and Sudan to validate data analysis and comprehend the main supply streams for weapons utilized by different factions.
Sudan has been in the clutches of a massive human rights and humanitarian disaster since the civil war escalated in April 2023. The battle between Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and their allies has killed approximately 16,650 people and displaced millions more, making Sudan the world’s greatest internal displacement catastrophe.
