UN Experts: Boeing Planes Carried Weapons, Mercenaries for Sudan's RSF

United Nations experts have identified Boeing 727 aircraft, previously linked by Reuters to a US military contractor's business network, as having transported mercenaries, weapons, and drones for Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF). This information comes from a draft UN report expected to be published in September.

The findings offer crucial details about the aircraft's involvement in supporting the RSF, a paramilitary group that UN investigators accuse of committing genocide in Sudan's Darfur region. The report cites reliable information from four sources, including two eyewitnesses in Nyala and communications from two member states, stating the aircraft carried RSF fighters, mercenaries, and military equipment.

A Reuters investigation in July had traced three aging Boeing aircraft, operated by companies linked to former US Army Special Forces soldier Steven Shaulis, from Chad to RSF logistics hubs in Sudan, Libya, and Somalia. While Reuters reported one plane was destroyed with RSF fighters aboard, the full extent of the planes' cargo remained unclear. Shaulis and his companies have not been sanctioned or accused of wrongdoing by authorities, and Shaulis did not respond to questions about the UN report or his companies.

The UN report, compiled by the Panel of Experts on the Sudan, monitors an arms embargo imposed on Darfur in 2004. The draft has been submitted to the Security Council for review. Sudan's civil war began in 2023, leading to hundreds of thousands of deaths and exacerbating a humanitarian crisis, according to the UN.

“

The Panel received reliable information from four sources that the aircraft had transported RSF fighters and mercenaries, as well as military equipment, including drones and weapons.