Foreign links in Sudan war
- Investigations found Colombian mercenaries operating in RSF-held areas from which drones were launched in Sudan. - Phone-tracking tied those Colombian fighters to RSF operations, while UN-linked reporting documents Libyan logistical support of fighters, fuel and weapons. - The evidence frames Sudan's conflict as sustained by transnational fighters and supply lines, prompting calls for diplomatic pressure on outside sponsors ( )
Investigations published this week say foreign fighters and cross-border supply routes helped keep Sudan’s war going, with Colombian ex-soldiers and Libyan networks tied to Rapid Support Forces operations. (bbc.com) The British broadcaster BBC reported on April 22 that phone-tracking data from Colombian fighters placed them in Rapid Support Forces-held areas in Darfur, including zones from which drones were launched before the force seized el-Fasher. (bbc.com) A separate United Nations Panel of Experts report on Libya, submitted on March 24, 2026, said an armed Libyan faction helped move fighters, fuel and weapons to the Rapid Support Forces through southern Libya during the period from October 2024 to February 2026. (un.org; apnews.com) The force at the center of both accounts is the Rapid Support Forces, the paramilitary group that has been fighting Sudan’s army since April 15, 2023, in a war that has spread from Khartoum across Darfur and other regions. (apnews.com; csis.org) The new reporting shifts attention from Sudan’s front lines to the routes behind them: airstrips near Kufra in southeastern Libya, foreign contractors, and outside financing that investigators say helped sustain operations inside western Sudan. (apnews.com; bbc.com) The United States added pressure on April 18 by sanctioning three people and two companies it said were involved in recruiting Colombian fighters for the Sudan war. AP reported that Washington linked the network to support for the Rapid Support Forces. (apnews.com) The United Arab Emirates has repeatedly denied backing the Rapid Support Forces. In a statement reported by The Africa Report in November 2025, Abu Dhabi said there was “no substantiated evidence” that it had provided support to either side and said it backed a civilian-led peace process. (theafricareport.com) The latest allegations land as Sudan enters the fourth year of a war that aid groups and policy researchers describe as the world’s largest displacement crisis, with diplomatic efforts still failing to stop outside flows of men and materiel. (csis.org; reliefweb.int) What happens next is likely to turn on the same places named in the investigations: not only battlefields in Darfur, but the foreign hubs, recruiters and supply corridors that keep those battlefields armed. (bbc.com; un.org)
