French weapons were used in the Sudan war despite the United Nations arms embargo

Human rights group Amnesty International says French military technology is being used in Sudan’s brutal civil war in violation of a United Nations arms embargo.

It said the Rapid Support Forces militia was using vehicles in the Darfur region provided by the United Arab Emirates equipped with French hardware when fighting the army.

“Our research shows that weapons designed and manufactured in France are being actively used on the battlefield in Sudan,” Amnesty Secretary General Agnès Callamard said.

The BBC asked France and the UAE for comment, which have previously denied arming the RSF.

Aid workers say the conflict in Sudan has led to one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, leaving thousands at risk of starvation.

The Galix defense system – manufactured in France by the companies KNDS and Lacroix – is intended for use by ground forces to help counter close-range attacks.

Amnesty said the weapons could be used to commit or facilitate serious human rights violations, adding that the French government must ensure the companies “immediately cease supplying this system to the UAE”.

The human rights group shared what it said was verified images of destroyed vehicles on the ground showing the Galix system.

They said the UAE and France have a long-standing partnership in the defense sector and cited a parliamentary report indicating that French companies had delivered about 2.6 billion euros ($2.74 billion) of equipment. military equipment for the UAE from 2014 to 2023.

It said companies have a responsibility to respect human rights and conduct “due diligence throughout their value chain”.

Amnesty said it had contacted the affected companies and French authorities about the use of the defense system but had not received a response.

“If France cannot ensure through export controls, including end-user certification, that weapons will not be re-exported to Sudan then it should not allow such transfers.” , the statement said.

The United Nations first imposed an arms embargo on Darfur in 2004, following accusations of ethnic cleansing of the region’s non-Arab population.

Amnesty has called for the embargo to be extended to the rest of Sudan and monitoring mechanisms to be strengthened after the outbreak of civil war last year.

Amnesty has called on all countries to stop supplying weapons directly and indirectly to fighting factions in Sudan.

The paramilitary RSF, led by General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, has been at war with Sudan’s regular army under the command of Abdel Fattah al-Burhan since April 2023 when the two former allies took up arms against together in a fierce power struggle.

The RSF has been accused of ethnic cleansing in Darfur but it has denied this and blamed local militias.

Both sides have been accused of war crimes, with the ongoing fighting leaving thousands dead and millions displaced.

In August, a United Nations-backed panel of experts declared a state of famine in parts of Darfur.

The head of the World Health Organization said hunger was “almost everywhere” after visiting the country a month later.

Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus later told the BBC: “The situation in Sudan is alarming… massive displacement – ​​now the largest in the world, and of course famine.”

However, Sudan’s combination of war, famine, displacement and disease has been overshadowed internationally by the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.