Amnesty International has announced that French-made military equipment is reportedly being used in Sudan’s civil war on armoured vehicles provided by the United Arab Emirates, which it says violates a longstanding UN arms embargo on the Darfur region.
According to Amnesty, armoured personnel carriers (APCs) supplied to Sudan by the UAE were equipped with Galix defence systems, produced in France by companies KNDS and Lacroix. The Galix system, designed for both defensive and offensive capabilities, is widely used by militaries around the world, including in France.
The Sudanese conflict, which has escalated in recent weeks, pits government forces under General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo. Both sides are accused of committing war crimes, and the conflict has created the world’s worst displacement crisis, with over 11 million people forced from their homes.
The French-made Galix system has been observed mounted on UAE-supplied Nimr Ajban APCs operated by the RSF, Amnesty reported, also providing photographic evidence of destroyed vehicles with the Galix system.
Amnesty has called on France to stop supplying Galix to the UAE, stressing that its use in Darfur constitutes a clear breach of the UN arms embargo. The embargo, which has applied to Darfur since 2004, restricts arms transfers and has faced calls for expansion to cover the entire country.
The SGDSN, France’s arms export authority, said it had not reviewed Amnesty’s report and offered no comment, while manufacturers KNDS and Lacroix also declined to comment.
Amnesty insists that, if France cannot ensure arms won’t be redirected to Sudan through end-user certifications and export controls, it should cease all exports to countries like the UAE.
