Investigation uncovers RSF military base hidden in Libyan desert

Yahoo

3 days ago

A research centre specialising in digital and open sources has tracked the movements of Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) using satellite images, online videos and photos. The investigation confirms the group has a base in the Libyan desert, near the town of al-Kufra.
The Centre for Information Resilience (CIR) said the location is likely being used as a rear base for RSF operations in Sudan's Darfur region.
The study, titled How we found an RSF military camp in the Libyan desert, shows that vehicles spotted in the Libyan camp later appeared in the Zamzam displacement camp, where the RSF carried out an attack in April.
At least 100 people were killed in the assault, including more than 20 children and at least nine aid workers, said Clementine Nkweta-Salami, the UN's resident and humanitarian coordinator in Sudan.
"Attacks on civilians, on humanitarian workers, and on civilian infrastructure are grave violations of international humanitarian law," she said. "Such acts are abhorrent and inexcusable."
CIR said it also identified a direct link between the Libyan site and a senior RSF commander who was later seen in Zamzam, the country's largest displacement camp, home to nearly one million people uprooted by the war.
'Convoys equipped with weapons'
The investigation shows large convoys of Toyota Land Cruisers fitted with weapons, filmed at different times in the desert. The same vehicles, parked in a rocky area in southern Libya, were later seen in Zamzam.
CIR said the Zamzam camp is now being used as a base by Colombian mercenaries and other foreign fighters involved in RSF offensives against El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur. The city has been surrounded by the RSF for 18 months.
The findings emerged as a court in Port Sudan charged RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, two of his brothers and 13 others in absentia with genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The charges relate to an April 2023 attack on El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur.
One of the accused, Abd al-Rahman Jumaa, is charged with leading the attack on El Geneina, overseeing the killing of West Darfur governor Khamis Abdullah Abkar in June 2023, and carrying out acts of genocide against thousands of Masalit people, including burying some alive.
According to the special court for combating terrorism and crimes against the state, the other defendants instigated the attack and committed rape, torture and looting.
'Presence of top RSF generals'
The CIR investigation also establishes the presence of General Hamdane al-Kajli, head of security for Abdul Rahim Hamdan Dagalo, the RSF's second-in-command.
He is seen on several occasions, notably in a vehicle spotted in Zamzam in April.
Researchers say al-Kajli was seriously wounded near El Fasher in early April while travelling in an armoured vehicle. He was evacuated to the Turkish hospital in Nyala, South Darfur, where RSF casualties are treated.
Other men directly responsible for Dagalo's security were killed, say the CIR investigators.
Some of the videos show RSF camouflage uniforms and shoulder patches. The vehicles, which do not carry number plates, have matching features – same model, same weapons, same water containers.
Spray-painted numbers on bonnets and doors were used to help track the vehicles across locations.
According to the CIR investigation, RSF military equipment is being transported on a large scale through Libya.
The revelations support the findings of UN experts, who highlighted violations of the arms embargo in 2024, citing a supply route from Abu Dhabi to Darfur via Chad and also via Libya.
Last April, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres hit out at the continued flow of weapons and fighters into Sudan and called for an end to all external support.
In June, the RSF seized land in north-western Sudan along the border with Libya and Egypt. The group now uses the area to bring in supplies from Libya without interference.