Amnesty International stated Thursday that military hardware manufactured in France is being used in Sudan on armoured vehicles provided by the United Arab Emirates, in “violation of the UN arms embargo” on the Darfur region.
The Galix defensive systems, manufactured in France by KNDS and Lacroix, were installed on armoured personnel carriers (APCs) that Amnesty International observed in Sudan and that were constructed and provided by the United Arab Emirates.
“Our research shows that weaponry designed and manufactured in France is in active use on the battlefield in Sudan,” Amnesty’s Secretary General Agnes Callamard said in a statement.
The civil war in Sudan, which is being fought between the army of Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by a former ally, General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, has escalated in recent weeks.
In what the UN refers to as the biggest displacement crisis in history, almost 11 million people have been displaced, and both sides have been charged with war crimes.
However, the Middle East and Ukraine wars have garnered more international attention than the Sudanese conflict.
The French-built Galix system has been seen installed on Nimr Ajban APCs that the Emirates have given to the RSF, according to Amnesty International, which also included images of damaged vehicles that were equipped with the technology.
Galix is made up of sensors connected to a battery of launchers which can be loaded with ammunition such as smoke, decoys or projectiles, Lacroix says on its website.
“The Galix suite is not only for the purpose of self-defence (passive action) but also to actively neutralise hostile personnel,” the company states.
“Any use (of Galix) in Darfur would be a clear breach of the UN arms embargo,” Callamard said, calling on Paris to “immediately stop the supply of this system to the UAE” by the manufacturers.
Galix is fitted to more than 5,000 military vehicles worldwide, including some used by the French army.
France’s SGDSN authority, which controls arms exports, told AFP it had not seen the Amnesty report and declined to comment.KNDS and Lacroix also declined to comment.
A United Nations arms embargo has been in place on Sudan’s Darfur region since 2004.
Amnesty has urged that the ban be extended to the whole country.
“If France cannot guarantee through export controls, including end user certification, that arms will not be re-exported to Sudan, it should not authorise” exports to countries such as the UAE, the group said.
