Russia’s Wagner mercenary group supplied missiles to the Rapid Support Force (RSF) in Sudan to help them fight the country’s army, Sudanese and regional diplomatic sources told the American channel CNN, News.ro reported.

Fighters of the RSF paramilitary formations and their leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo in 2019Photo: Mahmoud Hjaj / AP / Profimedia

The sources said the surface-to-air missiles had significantly bolstered RSF paramilitary fighters and their leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo as he battles for power with General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Sudan’s military leader and the force’s army chief.

On the border with Libya, where Wagner-backed General Khalifa Haftar controls large swaths of territory, satellite images back up those claims, showing an unusual increase in activity at Wagner’s bases.

Satellite images analyzed by CNN and the open-source group All Eyes on Wagner show a Russian transport plane flying between two key Libyan air bases owned by Haftar and used by a sanctioned Russian fighter jet.

According to the sources, Haftar supported the RSF, although he denies this. And Wagner’s increased activity at Haftar’s bases, combined with claims from Sudanese and regional diplomatic sources, suggest that both Russia and the Libyan general may have been preparing to support the RSF even before violence erupted.

The increase in the number of flights of the Ilyushin-76 transport plane began two days before the start of the conflict in Sudan and continued until at least Wednesday, satellite images show.

Wagner, repeatedly accused of committing atrocities

A powerful Russian mercenary group has played a public and key role in Moscow’s military campaigns abroad, particularly in Ukraine, and has been repeatedly accused of committing atrocities.

In Africa, it has helped support Moscow’s growing influence and confiscation of resources.

Dagalo and Burhan struggled for power during talks to restore civilian rule in Sudan before talks broke down, sparking the country’s worst violence in decades.

The fighting claimed hundreds of lives and deprived millions of people of electricity, water and food.

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