From Darfur to Kufra: RSF’s Hidden War Route

Sudan has been gripped by a brutal civil war since April 2023, when clashes erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Fighting has devastated Khartoum, Darfur, and other key regions, leaving millions displaced and transforming Sudan into the epicenter of a wider regional crisis.

Sudan’s strategic location at the crossroads of the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea an artery for global trade and energy, has magnified the conflict’s international significance. The country’s wealth in gold and oil has also made it a prize for foreign actors, further fueling external involvement.

CIR Report: RSF Presence in Southern Libya

A new investigation by the Center for Information Resilience (CIR) has revealed that RSF fighters are operating from a military camp in southern Libya, near Kufra, which serves as a staging ground for their campaigns in Darfur. Using satellite imagery, social media videos and geolocation techniques, CIR identified heavily armed Toyota Land Cruiser convoys assembled in the Libyan desert. The same vehicles later appeared at Zamzam camp near El Fasher, North Darfur, where a killed of displaced civilians took place earlier this year.

The report also links the site to General Hamdane al-Kajli, a senior RSF commander and close aide to Abdel Rahim Dagalo. Kajli was seriously wounded near El Fasher in April 2025 and later evacuated to Nyala’s Turkish hospital. CIR says these findings underscore how southern Libya has become an essential rear base for RSF operations.

Weapons Routes and External Backing

CIR confirms earlier UN reports that RSF weapons are funneled through Libya, in violation of the arms embargo. Arms and supplies reportedly flow from Abu Dhabi into Darfur via Chad and Libya. In June 2025, the RSF captured the Sudan-Libya-Egypt border triangle, securing key smuggling routes and easing their logistical constraints.

Libyan leader Khalifa Haftar, who controls eastern and southern Libya, is believed to cooperate with the RSF. Both Haftar forces and the Sudanese paramilitaries are backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which denies involvement despite mounting evidence.

Regional and Global Dimensions

The RSF’s survival hinges on its control of Sudan’s gold trade, a resource that has attracted the attention of foreign powers. The group has long-standing ties to the UAE and to Russia’s Wagner Group, now rebranded as the Africa Corps. Wagner has reportedly provided training, weapons, and security services, while also using Sudanese gold to help finance Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the UAE has been accused of supplying drones, weapons, and mercenaries to the RSF, with much of Sudan’s conflict gold flowing through Dubai. RSF drone strikes on Port Sudan, Sudan’s last major government stronghold and humanitarian gateway, illustrate the strategic impact of this foreign backing.

From Civil War to Proxy War

Analysts warn that Sudan’s war is no longer a purely domestic conflict. Libya has become a logistics hub, Russia sees Sudan as a source of resources and influence in Africa, and the UAE is accused of bankrolling RSF offensives. These dynamics, experts say, have turned Sudan into a battlefield for competing regional and global agendas.

The CIR report concludes that any sustainable peace will require not only negotiations between SAF and RSF, but also measures to curb the arms flows, financial networks, and political support that sustain the paramilitaries. Without addressing these external actors, the war risks dragging on indefinitely, deepening Sudan’s humanitarian disaster and destabilizing the broader Red Sea and Sahel regions.