Darfur lawyers investigate ‘role of Wagner and Emirates’ in Sudan war

The Darfur Bar Association (DBA) and its partners are collaborating with international legal experts to compel the warring Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to agree on an immediate ceasefire. The lawyers also continue their investigations into the involvement of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Russian military Wagner Group into the armed conflict in Sudan.

In a press statement yesterday, the Darfur human rights defenders group cautioned against the danger of the current SAF-RSF war into a civil war in Sudan, anticipating widespread chaos, as people on the ground are taking up arms to defend themselves.

“In the ongoing power struggle, the citizens’ right to life has been sacrificed, reducing the value of a Sudanese citizen’s life to less than the cost of a single bullet,” the DBA stated.

The association is currently actively consulting international legal expertson legal measures that could compel the commanders of the “main warring parties”, SAF Chief Lt Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan and RSF Commander Lt Gen Mohamed ‘Hemedti’ Dagalo to cease hostilities immediately.

“It is regrettable that the country has become a battleground for foreign interests, resulting in widespread destruction, extensive casualties, and the displacement of millions,” the Darfur lawyers said.

Wagner

After the fall of the regime of President Omar Al Bashir in April 2029, the DBA dispatched a team to investigate military presence of the Russian Wagner Group in the western regions of Darfur.

In June 2022, it published a preliminary report on the presence of Wagner mercenaries in South Darfur. The combatants were specifically accused of attacks on artisanal gold miners in the area of Um Dafoug, close to the border with the Central African Republic (CAR).

The DBA say in their statement that it received testimonies from Sudanese officials confirming collaboration with the Wagner Group in the west, claiming official dispatch from their military units.

The mercenaries’ presence was known to the Transitional Military Council, headed by El Burhan and his deputy Hemedti, the lawyers say. In September 2019, the DBA forwarded a copy of its preliminary report on the Russian paramilitary group to the office of newly appointed PM Abdalah Hamdok.

The Darfur lawyers continued to “consistently gather information from multiple sources, revealing the UAE’s activities, especially in Darfur, acting as a hub for weapons and military gear. Authentic reports detail the UAE’s role in Sudan’s ongoing war, its military involvement, and activities in West African countries and Libya.”

The DBA statement concludes by pointing to the report of the UN Panel of Experts on the situation in Darfur over 2023, by saying that the contents of the report “closely aligns with the association’s findings”.

According to the UN experts report, the RSF “developed new supply lines of military equipment and fuel through eastern Chad, Libya, and South Sudan. From July onwards, the RSF deployed several types of heavy and/or sophisticated weapons [..] This new firepower had a massive impact on the balance of forces, both in Darfur and other regions of Sudan.”

The Africa Defense Forum (ADF) wrote in July last year that Wagner mercenaries, “have trained RSF fighters and now supply them with weapons from bases in Libya. “Hemedti and Wagner have developed a close bond in recent years based, in part, on their shared business of mining and smuggling Sudan’s gold out of the country.” 

Radio Dabanga reported in January 2023 that El Burhan and Hemedti separately visited N’Djamena, capital of Chad, to discuss “certain forces” wreaking havoc in the Sudanese-Chadian border area with President Mohamed Deby. Chad had more than once reported about being surrounded by Russian mercenaries, especially along the borders of Sudan, Libya, and the Central African Republic (CAR).

Emirates

UAE military support to the RSF has been the subject of several reports since war broke out in Sudan on April 15. In August, the UAE denied the accusations, arguing it “does not take sides” in the conflict.

Tensions came to a head in end November, when deputy SAF commander Yasir El Atta pointed fingers at “powerful, bribed politicians who accommodate Emirati planes supplying the RSF with necessary resources through multiple airports”, and called the UAE a “mafia state”.

The UAE in response expelled three Sudanese diplomats, whereupon the Sudanese FM Ministry declared 15 Emirati diplomats persona non grata in December. Chad expelled four Sudanese diplomats, as El Atta had accused N’Djamena of permitting the use of its airports for transporting Emirati arms destined for the RSF.

In late December, members of the US Congress sent a letter to the UAE foreign affairs minister, urging him to end his country’s support to the RSF.

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* The Wagner Group is a Russian paramilitary organisation, variously described as a private military company, a network of mercenaries, or a de facto private army of Russian President Vladimir Putin.