French military technology is being used in Sudan’s brutal civil war in violation of the UN arms embargo, rights group Amnesty International has said.
It says that the Rapid Support Forces are using vehicles in the Darfur region provided by the United Arab Emirates that are equipped with French weapons as they fight against the militants.
“Our research shows that weapons designed and manufactured in France are working on the battlefield in Sudan,” said Amnesty’s Secretary General Agnès Callamard.
French authorities have not responded to the allegations while the UAE has previously denied arming the RSF.
The Galix defense system – developed in France by the companies KNDS and Lacroix – is used by ground forces to help counter close-in attacks.
Amnesty said these weapons could be used to commit or facilitate serious human rights violations, adding that the French government must ensure that companies “immediately stop the supply of this program in the UAE”.
The rights group has shared photos, which it says it has verified, of destroyed vehicles with the Galix system visible on them.
“If France cannot guarantee through export controls, including end-user certification, that the weapons will not be sent back to Sudan, it should not authorize that transfer,” he said.
The UN first imposed an arms embargo on Darfur in 2004, following allegations of genocide against the region’s non-Arab population.
Amnesty has called for the ban to be extended to all of Sudan, and for its monitoring system to be strengthened following the outbreak of civil war last year.
Amnesty has called on all countries to stop supplying weapons directly and indirectly to the warring groups in Sudan.
The military RSF, led by General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, has been fighting the Sudanese regular army under Abdel Fattah al-Burhan since April 2023 when the former allies clashed in a bitter struggle.
The RSF has been accused of ethnic cleansing in Darfur, which it has denied, accusing the local military.
Both groups are accused of war crimes, and the ongoing fighting has left thousands dead and millions homeless.
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