Amnesty International has produced a report dubbed “New Weapons Fuelling the Sudan Conflict” that documents the presence of recently manufactured and recently imported foreign weapons in Sudan in general and in Darfur in particular.
In his briefing to the Pan-African Parliament during the Sitting of the Committee on Cooperation, International Relations and Conflict Resolution today 26 February 2025 in Midrand, South Africa, Dr. Japheth Biegon, Africa Regional Advocacy Coordinator at Amnesty International said the weapons have been used by Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, both of which are known to commit violations of International Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law.
“The presence of recently manufactured weapons in Darfur is a violation of the United Nations Security Council arms embargo which has prohibited all transfers of weapons and military equipment to Darfur since 2004. Based on international/regional law, all states are prohibited from transferring weapons to a party to an armed conflict where there is a clear risk that this would contribute to the commission of International Humanitarian Law violations,” Dr Biegon said.
There has been a lot of reference on what is the true cause of the conflict and what are the geopolitics and all that they report this is narrowed down to the question of victims and how weapons are fueling the conflict. It is a targeted deliberate report on the question of weapons and who is supplying the weapons.
Hon Sherif El Gabby, the Chairperson of the PAP Committee on Cooperation, International Relations and Conflict Resolution pledged the continental legislative body’s willingness to work with all the stakeholders like the United Nations in implementing resolutions from the report by Amnesty International.
He advised Amnesty International to go beyond relying on videos and images since they can be manipulated. Dr Biegon assured legislators that Amnesty International has in-house digital verification analysts who can use digital tools to determine when, where, and how a specific video or photo is taken.
Hon Birantije Jean-Marie, the Chairperson of the PAP Committee on Justice and Human Rights said apart from weapons, there are other causes and dynamics fuelling the conflict in Sudan. He said some of the factors that need to be taken into account when thinking about the Sudan conflict are the impact on education and food.
In coming up with the report, Amnesty International relied on information in the shipment data. After the publication of the report in July of 2014,
in December of 2014, they published a small briefing as a follow-up to the main report. That follow-up is because they now have found new evidence showing that weapons manufactured in France had been transferred to the UAE and then found themselves in Sudan.
One of the recommendations is giving access to the African Commission on Human Rights to investigate atrocities that have been committed in Sudan. There is a need to provide some history of how the African Union reacted to the conflict in Sudan in 2005 and draw a parallel to how the African Union responded then and how it has responded now.
“What we are currently lacking is a sure leadership from the African Union. In 2005, not only was there the African Union High-Level Panel
that was chaired by then South African President, Dr. Thabo Mbeki. There was a peace-keeping mission that was deployed to contain the situation. Even the Pan-African Parliament at that time established a high-level committee. Thus various organs of the African Union acted together to respond to the problem. What we see today, unfortunately, is that we have lacked African Union leadership in responding to this conflict.
“And as a result of the bullying that has been created by the lack of African Union leadership, we have had the proliferation of actors that are trying to respond to the conflict, the JEDA process, the Geneva process, and all that,” Dr. Biegon added.
He said there is a need to push the African Union to be at the forefront of responding to the conflict. Dr Biegon said the Pan-African Parliament can play a role in pushing the African Union leadership to take the front seat in responding to the conflict.
“And perhaps it’s a time we need to convene a parliamentary summit on the Sudan conflict, because also at this particular moment, we have a new leadership at the African Union Commission. If the Pan-African Parliament can engage the new leadership on this conflict, then perhaps we may see a different direction being taken in terms of response.”
