External backing — from weapons and military technology to foreign fighters and logistical networks — is extending Sudan’s war and helping both sides launch drone attacks on civilians in areas far from the front lines, a U.N. fact-finding mission said Thursday.
The conflict began in April 2023 after a power struggle between Sudan’s military and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). It has since forced more than 14 million people from their homes and fueled one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
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In a report, the U.N. mission said drone strikes killed more than 1,000 people during the first five months of 2026. Investigators accused both the military and the RSF of serious breaches of international humanitarian and human rights law in their use of drones, saying some actions may constitute war crimes.
Neither the RSF nor Sudan’s military immediately responded to Reuters requests for comment. Both parties have previously denied allegations of abuses.
Investigators said they had found grounds to believe that individuals and organizations connected to the United Arab Emirates, Chad, Libya and Somalia had supplied the RSF with weapons, equipment, logistical support, training and foreign personnel.
The report also said as many as 2,000 Colombian contractors had assisted with the operation and maintenance of drone systems and other advanced weapons deployed by the RSF. Some contractors were reportedly present during operations near el-Fasher in Darfur, a city the RSF captured in October 2025. The U.N. mission has previously said mass killings there displayed hallmarks pointing to genocide.
The UAE’s diplomatic mission in Geneva rejected claims that it was involved in the conflict, saying it had not supplied arms or other military-related materiel. It added that the country “remains committed to open and constructive dialogue with the Fact Finding Mission.”
Somalia’s government said it regarded the report’s allegations seriously. It said it had not allowed its territory, airspace or ports to be used for military purposes by any party to the conflict, while acknowledging “gaps” in information-sharing between the federal government and regional authorities.
Graves fill a recently created cemetery inside the displacement camps surrounding Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan, Feb. 26, 2026.
Colombia told investigators that it opposed mercenarism and was taking measures to address the involvement of Colombian nationals in foreign conflicts.
Chad and Libya did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The mission said its inquiry into outside support for Sudan’s military remained at an early stage. However, it said investigators had identified evidence that foreign-supplied combat drones and loitering munitions — weapons capable of hovering over an area before striking a target — had increased the army’s ability to conduct long-range attacks.
Some of those weapons were used against civilian sites, including Yabus Market in Blue Nile State, the report said.
Drone warfare
The longer range, greater endurance and increasingly advanced technology of the drones have allowed Sudan’s military and the RSF to attack well beyond the immediate battle lines, according to the report. Evidence indicated that both sides had carried out drone strikes that killed civilians and hit hospitals, schools, markets and displacement camps.
From May through July 2026, repeated RSF drone attacks damaged power and fuel infrastructure in el Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan. The city was under army control as RSF pressure mounted in June.
The attacks disrupted water supplies, health care, transportation and other basic services in a city already facing severe strain and a partial siege.
The report also cited army strikes that investigators said killed at least 70 people at Ad-Da’ein Teaching Hospital in East Darfur.
The mission repeated its call for the arms embargo covering Darfur to be enforced and urged the U.N. Security Council to expand the measure to the whole of Sudan.
