Russian Diplomats Investigate RSF’s Alleged Shootdown of Cargo Plane in Sudan
Russia’s diplomatic mission in Sudan launched an investigation on Monday into the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces’ claim that they shot down a cargo plane in the country’s Darfur province.
In a statement published earlier Monday, the RSF called the aircraft, which was downed in Sudan’s Malha region in northern Darfur, a “foreign warplane” aiding the Sudanese military and accused it of dropping “barrel bombs” on civilians.
“All foreign mercenaries aboard the aircraft were eliminated in the operation,” the RSF statement claimed.
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Footage taken at the crash site showed both a Russian passport and an identification document linked to a UAE-based company. The UAE has long denied any role in providing weapons to the RSF for its now 18-month war against the recognized Sudanese government.
The aircraft, an Ilyushin Il-76, was identified as belonging to New Way Cargo of Kyrgyzstan. The company has ties to previous arms shipments to the RSF through an airport in nearby Chad, according to The Conflict Observatory, a US State Department-funded war monitoring organization.
The Observatory’s report noted that the UAE’s claims that the airport construction is only for a hospital are significantly doubted due to the absence of evidence of a significant local humanitarian crisis and the lack of significant Sudanese refugees in the area.
The war in Sudan has claimed over 24,000 lives, according to Armed Conflict Location and Event Data. suffering from years of unrest.
