French military technology is being used in Sudan’s brutal civil war in violation of a UN arms embargo, rights group Amnesty International says.
It said the Rapid Support Forces militia in the Darfur region used vehicles supplied by the United Arab Emirates and equipped with French hardware in the battle against the army.
“Our research shows that French-designed and manufactured weapons are actively used on the battlefield in Sudan,” said Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty.
French authorities have not responded to the allegations, while the UAE has previously denied arming the RSF.
The Galix defense system – made in France by the companies KNDS and Lacroix – is used by land forces to help counter attacks at close range.
Amnesty said the weapons could be used to commit or facilitate serious rights abuses, adding that the French government must ensure that the companies “immediately stop supplying this system to the UAE”.
The rights group shared images, which it said it had verified, of destroyed vehicles on the ground showing the Galix system.
“If France cannot guarantee through export controls, including end-user certification, that weapons will not be re-exported to Sudan, it should not allow these transfers,” the report said.
The UN first imposed an arms embargo in Darfur in 2004, following accusations of ethnic cleansing against the region’s non-Arab population.
Amnesty has called for the embargo to be extended to the rest of Sudan and the monitoring mechanism strengthened after the outbreak of civil war last year.
Amnesty has urged all countries to stop supplying weapons directly and indirectly to warring parties in Sudan.
The paramilitary RSF, led by General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, has been at war with Sudan’s regular army led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan since April 2023, when the two former allies took up arms against each other in a fierce power struggle.
The RSF has been accused of ethnic cleansing in Darfur, which it has denied and blamed on local militias.
Both sides have been accused of committing war crimes, with the ongoing fighting leaving thousands dead and millions displaced.
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