The External Factor in the Sudan War: Cross-Border Mercenaries Threaten Regional and Global SecurityHeadlines
Al-Haqiqa
The first periodic electronic magazine specializing in documenting the crimes of the Rapid Support Forces militia in Sudan, serving as a reference for international organizations and mechanisms of protecting human rights worldwide – a specialized version.
The External Factor in the Sudan War: Cross-Border Mercenaries Threaten Regional and Global Security
Headlines:
• The expertise of the Sudanese intelligence and intelligence services has frustrated attempts by extremist terrorist groups to infiltrate.
• The phenomenon of exporting mercenaries to Sudan whets the appetite of terrorist groups to spread globally.
• The external dimensions of the war in Sudan represent a security and geopolitical threat that could explode at any time.
• Foreign Interventions: Destabilizing Security and expanding the Circle of Chaos
Introduction
The plan to dismantle the Sudanese State and hand it over to political forces subject to dictates and loyal to the Emirati expansionist agenda, which has found favor with some regional and international countries, became an evident in the first months of the war. The rebel Rapid Support Forces militia sought to recruit foreign mercenaries from neighboring Arab and African countries. This was documented in reports by the United Nations and the Human Rights Council, particularly after the compelling evidence presented by Sudan in international forums, where it established a strong presence in case management and in reports supported by evidence and proof. This positively impacted the understanding of countries with a strong commitment to international peace and security. At the same time, it demonstrated the extent of double standards, even within the UN Security Council, despite the serious implications of the war in Sudan for regional stability and its far-reaching impact on international security. Sudan is located near two terrorist hotspots in East Africa: Kenya, home to the port of Mombasa, which has long served as a lung for terrorist groups financing their illicit activities and a logistical hub for arms and drug smuggling operations. North Africa has also become an active center for transnational crime, directly linked to the financing of extremist and terrorist groups.
The path to dominating Sudan’s independence:
The path to dominating Sudan’s independence by force has undergone multiple stages, necessitated by the decisive responses of the Sudanese people, known for their unwavering commitment to their country’s freedom, like other free peoples. They stood by their armed forces, which were able to steadfastly and resolutely thwart the plot, moving toward the inevitable outcome: the people’s victory over the terrorist militias, even if some circles benefiting from fueling the conflict were reluctant to designate them as terrorist organizations to protect their interests.
Decline of international commitment to cooperating with the Sudanese government to combat terrorism:
Despite the decline in international commitment, especially from the European Union and the United States, to cooperating with Sudanese government in combating terrorism, the Sudanese security and intelligence services have spared no effort, despite the wartime circumstances, to confront the challenges of contributing to internal and regional security through operations to secure its western Red Sea coast, which extends over 800 kilometers.
It is well known that the security of the Red Sea is a regional and international responsibility, given its importance to global trade.
The expertise of the Sudanese security and intelligence services has enabled them to thwart numerous attempts by extremist terrorist groups to establish bases on the desert borders with Libya and Niger. However, the Libyan border remains a source of mercenaries and terrorists to the Darfur region. This has been proven to be orchestrated and sponsored by the UAE, and the implementation role is being entrusted to Libyan Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar.
Sending Mercenaries to Sudan Whips the Appetite of Terrorist Groups:
The growing phenomenon of sending mercenaries to Sudan to fight alongside the Rapid Support Forces militia is likely to whet the appetite of terrorist groups, particulalry if the international community continues to refrain from fulfilling its commitments to assist Sudanese government in fulfilling its role in this regard, since these commitments are the result of ongoing cooperation culminating in agreements with the European Union and the United States.
However, the reality indicates that the recruitment of mercenaries is ongoing, and there is specific expertise available to train militia members on advanced weapons used to target civilians. Reports from the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission in September 2025 confirmed the militia’s use of mercenaries and documented their participation in the fighting, as well as violations against civilians. The Human Rights Council’s 2025 report also confirmed the participation of mercenaries from Chad and South Sudan. These crimes are also being committed against Sudanese refugees and African migrants within Libyan borders.
In the same context, reports from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) indicated the urgent need to protect refugees from gang crimes and the need for such protection.
This situation, as we mentioned, creates a fertile environment for terrorist groups, underscoring the urgent need for more effective international and regional cooperation in border control by providing technical support to end transnational crime centers in Libya, which engage in kidnapping, extortion, and sexual exploitation. These violations constitute serious crimes under international and humanitarian law. Mercenary Infiltration and Opening Channels with Terrorist Groups:
The possibility of mercenary infiltration and opening channels with terrorist groups remains a real possibility, especially given the exploitation of the country’s gold resources, an easy means of financing terrorism in the absence of international oversight. The risk of the war spreading in Sudan also remains a real possibility, according to the above data, especially in countries suffering from fragile security and armed protests, such as Chad and South Sudan.
Cross-borders Crime:
The areas controlled by the Rapid Support Forces militia constitute safe corridors for transnational organized crime and offer all the conditions to attract terrorist groups. The triad of mercenaries, gold, generous Emirati funding, and logistical support whets the appetite for terrorism, which knows no borders. The fact remains, documented by credible institutions representing a wide spectrum of international organizations, human rights monitors, and the press, that the continued support for the militia has enabled it to openly recruit African and Colombian mercenaries. Denying this fact indicates a desire to continue expanding the war, but controlling its course appears difficult to predict. The international press has been closely investigating the dimensions of the war in all its aspects. The Guardian newspaper traced the path of a Colombian mercenary recruited by the UAE, along with hundreds of his fellow citizens, retired Colombian military personnel. The soldier told the newspaper, which published the report in October, that he had trained thousands of Rapid Support Forces fighters, most of whom were children, and that most of them were killed in battle.
The UAE’s funding and support for the militia have contributed to the displacement of at least fifteen million Sudanese from their homes and the destruction of infrastructure in most Sudanese cities.
The designation of the Rapid Support Forces militia as a terrorist organization, based on its proven actions of targeting unarmed civilians with murder and displacement, bombing essential service centers such as electricity and water, and destroying scientific research centers, universities, and museums, constitute terrorist crimes comparable to those perpetrated by extremist terrorist groups in countries across the region and the Middle East. This is an aspect the government has been working to reinforce in all regional and international forums, most recently at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, where it addressed the session, enumerating the reasons for the militia’s terrorism and renewing its call for the international community to designate it accordingly.
This is a legal and diplomatic path that Sudan has focused on, pursuing a vision it has consistently adhered to. It has responded to all proposals to stop the war, based on the leadership’s commitment to the security, sovereignty, and unity of the state, and to ward off terrorist threats and extremist trends, which constitute a fertile ground for exploitation by countries with expansionist agendas. This path may yield slow results, given the intersection of corrupt interests between some major powers and some oil-producing countries, such as the UAE.
Countries Threatened of Instability:
However, the responsibility falls on the countries threatened of instability to develop areas of cooperation in combating transnational crime and in clearing out hotbeds and environments of terrorism.
The report, published by The Guardian in October 2025, documents the confessions of a Colombian mercenary, a retired officer. His testimony to the newspaper focuses on the difference they have made in terms of military tactics and discipline on the ground, unlike the situation found among militia forces. This indicates the desire of the countries supporting the war to expand its scope by recruiting mercenaries with professional combat capabilities, in addition to the open supply lines from neighboring countries that lack the ability or desire to resist the pressures and economic temptations of the UAE, which has become so involved in the war that some of its officers have been deployed to coordinate logistical operations and ensure the continued flow of mercenaries. Fact-Finding:
The report of the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission in Sudan referred to crimes against civilians and the interception and looting of humanitarian aid. These are the same crimes that the Sudanese mission to the UN Security Council argued about, supported by documentation and evidence of the Rapid Support Forces militia’s perpetration of these violations, with the UAE behind them. The UN report stated that displacement camps located within areas controlled by the militia included rape, gang rape, kidnapping, sexual slavery, and forced marriage.
Regional and International Security:
The report also addressed targeting of hospitals in El Fasher and El Obeid and the siege of medical facilities. This has been reiterated by the Sudanese mission to the UN and the Security Council, which has called for measures to protect regional and international security. The displacement of at least fifteen million displaced persons who have sought refuge in army-controlled areas to escape targeting remains damning evidence of the militia’s terrorism, exacerbated by foreign intervention. Mission member Mohamed Chandi also mentioned, among other reasons, that the interference of foreign parties is one of the reasons for the worsening situation. His colleague, Mona Rishmawi, pointed out that the situation in Sudan has included international crimes that tarnish the reputation of all those involved.
A Potential Explosion
The external dimensions of the war in Sudan represent a security and geopolitical threat that could explode at any time. Given that East Africa and North Africa are rife with armed conflicts that never subside, they flare up again with greater intensity. These are indications of the possibility of the Eritrean-Ethiopian conflict resurfacing near the Sudanese border at any time. This conflict, if unleashed, could destabilize the entire region, especially given the ethnic dimensions of the conflict, which revolve around power and revolution. This front has far-reaching implications for the security of the Red Sea and the African interior, where, over the past two decades, many extremist and terrorist groups have sprung up, finding their prey in areas of security fragility. It also paves the way for foreign interventions that exploit such favorable conditions to bolster their illegitimate desires to impose influence and dominance.
The situation hardly applies to the state of South Sudan, exhausted by internal conflicts and the presence of armed ethnic groups waiting for the right opportunity to end the rule of the ethnic groups controlling the government. These complications may impose a new reality that the international community finds it compelled to deal with seriously and realizes that ignoring the dangers that Sudan has been warning about due to transnational and organized crime, foreign interventions with weapons, mercenaries, and logistical and financial support, is not an attempt to end the militia rebellion in order to impose a specific political reality. Rather, they are highly dangerous warnings based on the long experience that the Sudanese security services rely on in the field of combating transnational crime and terrorism through cooperation with the United States and the European Union, which culminated in the failure of many terrorist operations and helped in destroying the incubators of terrorist groups.
The path to peace lies in removing the militias*:
The capabilities of the Sudanese Armed Forces and the capabilities of the Sudanese people, who continually affirm daily that the path to peace lies in removing the terrorist militias and that resolving the battle is only a matter of time, remain strong. However, the repercussions of this conflict will continue to burden the regional and international community, whose evidence confirms their negative, if not their reticent, stance toward deterring states that support the expansion of the war.
The report of the African Commission on Human Rights reinforces the credible evidence from the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission, reports from the Sudanese government, and international press reports, which exclusively document the commission of crimes against humanity related to the forced displacement of millions of citizens, the killing of defenseless civilians, the targeting of basic services, the forced recruitment of children, and sexual crimes of all kinds. Foreign Interventions and Destabilization:
The commitment of the Sudanese government, at its highest levels, represented by the Chairman of the Sovereignty Council, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, to leading bilateral diplomatic engagement with neighboring and regional countries to cooperate in areas leading to blocking the channels through which foreign interventions that destabilize the region and the world are infiltrated. The diplomatic efforts led by the Vice-Chairman of the Sovereignty Council, Lieutenant General Malik Agar, deep within the African continent continue to underscore Sudan’s relentless and strategic endeavor to consolidate the principles of security and peace at the regional and international levels. This is in addition to the powerful diplomatic rhetoric that characterized Prime Minister Dr. Kamil Idris’s address at the recent United Nations General Assembly session in New York, where he reiterated that silence on the crimes of the militias, which are committing crimes against civilians, destroying infrastructure, and engaging in forced displacement, is a green light to continue these crimes.
