NAIROBI, Kenya — British-made weapons and military equipment have been recovered from battlefields in Sudan, where they were allegedly used by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to commit atrocities, documents presented to the United Nations Security Council have revealed.
According to The Guardian, the findings are contained in two reports compiled by Sudan’s military in June 2024 and March 2025.
The reports detail the recovery of small-arms training systems manufactured in Wales by Militec, and UK-built engines installed in armoured vehicles at former RSF bases in Khartoum and Omdurman.
The documents indicate that the equipment reached the RSF through the United Arab Emirates (UAE), reigniting scrutiny of Britain’s arms exports to the Gulf nation.
The UAE has repeatedly been accused of supplying weapons to the Sudanese paramilitary group in violation of UN embargoes.
Photographs attached to the reports show UAE-made Nimr Ajban armoured personnel carriers captured from RSF sites, some fitted with engines marked “Made in Great Britain by Cummins Inc.”
A data plate on one of the engines reportedly shows it was built in 2016 by a UK subsidiary of the American manufacturer.
Export records further reveal that between 2015 and 2024, the UK government issued 26 licences for the sale of military training devices in a category that includes Militec’s products—some of which have now surfaced in Sudan.
Three months after the UN received photographic evidence of British-made items on Sudanese battlefields, London reportedly approved an open export licence to the UAE for the same class of military equipment.
The licence permits unlimited exports without stringent monitoring of end-users.
Records also suggest that by 2016, British officials were aware that the UAE had previously supplied similar vehicles to armed groups in Libya and Yemen, both under UN arms embargoes.
However, because the engines are considered dual-use—suitable for both civilian and military purposes—they do not always require special export licences.
Both the UAE and Militec have denied wrongdoing. The UAE insists it does not arm the RSF, while Militec says all its exports comply fully with UK regulations.
The revelations come as Sudan faces a new wave of violence in its western Darfur region, where reports suggest ethnic cleansing by the RSF in the recently seized city of El Fasher.
Local monitors say at least 1,500 civilians have been killed in the past three days as residents fled the city.
Now in its third year, the war between the RSF and Sudan’s national army has claimed more than 150,000 lives, displaced over 12 million people, and left nearly 25 million facing acute hunger—one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
