RSF produces banned chemicals under foreign expert supervision: Report

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News websites
20 Oct 2025 13:48
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Local sources claim that the RSF is receiving foreign support to manufacture toxic weapons in Nyala, as reports of chemical attacks on civilians in Darfur increase.

Smoke billows after drone strikes by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) targeted the northern port in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan, Sudan, Tuesday, May 6, 2025 (AP)

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have established three workshops in Nyala, South Darfur, to produce explosive chemical materials, a Sudanese news outlet, Almohagig, reported, adding that toxic‑payload drones have been used against civilians in El-Fasher.

Local sources cited by the outlet identified the alleged sites as: one facility inside the Gum Arabic Company industrial complex, another at the Al‑Junaid Oil and Grease Factory in the Domaya neighbourhood, and a third assembly site west of the Ministry of Finance.

According to those sources, the RSF has been receiving chemical supplies and toxic gases by airlift into Nyala Airport. The report also names foreign mercenaries, reportedly from Nigeria and Uganda, and says foreign officers and engineers are overseeing operations, though the nationalities of those supervisors were not independently confirmed.

Local field reporters in El-Fasher say a downed RSF drone recovered on October 8 contained a small canister with suspected toxic gas; other residents and resistance groups have linked similar devices to an attack on El Obeid in which explosive‑laden drones were reportedly fitted with chemical payloads.

Symptoms consistent with exposure to irritant or toxic agents

Medical sources cited by local committees described symptoms, vomiting, convulsions, and respiratory distress, consistent with exposure to irritant or toxic agents. Independent confirmation of the chemical nature of the substances has not been published.

These reports come as the head of Sudan’s Sovereign Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, stated on Saturday that the Sudanese army is prepared to enter negotiations aimed at ending the ongoing conflict and restoring the country’s “unity and dignity.”

Speaking during a visit to Atbara in northern Sudan, where he offered condolences to the family of Army Major Muzammil Abdullah, killed recently in fighting in El-Fasher, al-Burhan emphasized that while the army welcomes genuine efforts for peace, no negotiations are currently underway with the Quartet (the United States, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates) or any other party.

His remarks come ahead of planned Quartet meetings in New York, aimed at revitalizing international efforts to broker a peaceful settlement to the conflict.

Thousands trapped in El-Fasher siege on ‘edge of survival': Report

Last week, the besieged Sudanese city of El-Fasher was declared “uninhabitable", with new evidence revealing the destruction of most homes and alarming levels of malnutrition among residents trapped inside.

Once a bustling regional capital, El Fasher has now become a devastated enclave where nearly 250,000 people endure relentless artillery and drone fire, squeezed into an ever-shrinking area of survival.

For more than 549 days, fighters from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have surrounded the city, blocking humanitarian aid and attempting to capture the Sudanese army’s last stronghold in western Sudan.

Eyewitness accounts from nearly 900 escapees, many others were reportedly killed or abducted while trying to flee, describe a population “pushed to the edge of survival.”

The city remains under constant bombardment, with RSF artillery and drone strikes hitting civilian areas. A recent attack on a displacement shelter killed at least 57 people, including 22 women and 17 children.

One in five children under five is acutely malnourished

MedGlobal found that one in five children under five is acutely malnourished, rising to 27.5 percent among those younger than 18 months.

The report also highlighted that 38% of pregnant and lactating women are malnourished, increasing the risks of premature or underweight births. Among adolescent girls aged 15–19, the rate of “wasting” reached 60%, the highest of all groups.

Although communication blackouts have isolated El Fasher, 86% reported little or no phone or internet access.

One resident, Abdessalam Kitir, 50, described using milk from his only surviving goat, the other killed in a drone strike, to keep a newborn alive after the child’s entire family was killed when an RSF shell struck their home.

“The baby lost his mother and father and three brothers and sisters. He was evacuated to the hospital,” Kitir told The Guardian.

Even Al Saudi Hospital, the city’s last functioning medical facility, is frequently shelled. Thirteen people were killed there last week.

With indiscriminate shelling continuing, many families spend days hiding in trenches or makeshift bunkers. Half of the respondents said they had been victims of violence, while 71 percent witnessed attacks on neighbors or others in the city.

Last week, UN human rights chief Volker Turk condemned the ongoing killings in El Fasher.

The Sudanese military has also faced accusations of war crimes, including a recent drone strike that killed at least 16 people in a nearby town east of El Fasher.

Last week, the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights described Sudan’s conflict as a “war on children,” citing widespread starvation, forced displacement, and deliberate attacks on minors.

Lawyers at the center warned that states such as the UAE, which deny supporting the RSF, are breaching their obligations under the Genocide Convention through involvement in the conflict.

A new report by the UK’s Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) has lately commended London for doubling its aid to Sudan to £230 million last year and prioritizing the crisis amid the growing humanitarian catastrophe.

War has killed tens of thousands, displaced millions

Sudan has been engulfed in a brutal conflict since April 2023, when fighting broke out between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a powerful paramilitary faction led by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo. According to the United Nations and local sources, the conflict has killed over 20,000 people and displaced nearly 14 million others.

However, independent research conducted by some universities estimates the true death toll may be closer to 130,000, underscoring the devastating scale of the war.