EditBulgarian mortars in Darfur: how EU weapons reach Sudan’s battlefield
Sudan argues that Europe cannot lecture the world on human rights while its factories continue to supply ammunition that ends up in the hands of forces accused of genocide
Sudan’s ambassador to the European Union, Abdelbagi Kabeir, recently issued a blunt warning to Brussels: “The EU must weigh its moral balance against its trade balance.” In an interview with Politico, he called on member states to immediately suspend new arms exports to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), accusing Abu Dhabi of diverting European-made weapons into Sudan’s brutal civil war – weapons, he stressed, “were never intended for third-party use.”
Since April 2023, Sudan has been torn apart by fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), commanded by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as “Hemedti.” What began as a power struggle between two former allies has escalated into one of the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophes: tens of thousands dead, more than 12 million displaced, and nearly half the population – 25 million people, facing acute hunger or outright famine.
Both sides stand accused by the United Nations and human rights groups of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including ethnic massacres, systematic rape, and deliberate attacks on civilians and humanitarian workers.
The European Union has maintained one of the strictest arms embargoes in the world on Sudan since 1994. No EU member state may sell weapons directly to Khartoum or any armed group inside the country.
Yet once those weapons are legally exported to a third country – in this case the UAE, enforcement largely collapses. Europe relies almost entirely on end-user certificates and the purchasing country’s promise not to re-export. In practice, these paper safeguards have proven worthless in Sudan.
The Darfur convoy that shocked the world
On 21 November 2024, fighters from the Joint Forces – a Darfur-based coalition allied with the Sudanese army, ambushed a mysterious convoy in the remote tri-border desert where Sudan, Chad, and Libya meet.
What they filmed and posted on social media was explosive: dozens of brand-new 81 mm high-explosive mortar shells still in their original wooden crates, two Colombian passports, and thick bundles of cash the fighters claimed were Emirati dirhams.
European-made ammunition is ending up in Sudan, despite an EU embargo on sending weapons to this country ravaged by a year of fighting between the #Sudanese_Armed_Forces and the #RSF militia.
The @Observers were able to determine that these weapons were manufactured in Bulgaria. pic.twitter.com/Sv7luFda4o
— The Observers (@Observers) April 17, 2025
Close-ups of the crates revealed the international phytosanitary code BG-RSE-0082-HT (“BG” = Bulgaria). Cyrillic names, typical Bulgarian women’s surnames, identified the packer and quality inspector. Every shell carried a lot number beginning with “46” (the factory code for Dunarit, one of Bulgaria’s largest munitions producers) and ending in “19”, confirming manufacture in 2019.
Weapons expert Mike Lewis, a former member of the UN Panel of Experts on Sudan, confirmed to FRANCE 24: “These are standard 81 mm HE mortar bombs with M-6 fuzes. The markings, increment charges, and packaging all match Dunarit’s known 2019 production.”
Bulgaria has admitted to UN investigators that it exported these exact mortar rounds to the UAE in 2019 but insists it never authorised onward transfer to Sudan. Sofia declined further comment when approached by journalists.
The well-trodden UAE-Libya-Darfur pipeline
UN reports have repeatedly identified eastern Libya – controlled by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, a close UAE ally, as the primary staging hub for weapons flowing to the RSF. The route is so well established that the discovery of Bulgarian shells in Darfur came as no surprise to regional analysts, only as irrefutable visual proof.
This is not an isolated case. Earlier in 2024, Agence France-Presse and FRANCE 24 investigations documented European ammunition reaching the same battlefields. The British government recently confirmed that UK-made military equipment has been found in Sudan.
Amnesty International also photographed UAE-supplied armoured vehicles operated by the RSF that were fitted with French GALIX self-protection systems. The French manufacturers insist they sold the systems to the UAE Armed Forces in full compliance with export licences and non-re-export clauses.
The United Arab Emirates categorically denies arming or funding the Rapid Support Forces and insists it is playing a constructive diplomatic role in Sudan.
Yet the accumulation of evidence – from Bulgarian mortar shells to French electronics on Emirati vehicles, has intensified pressure on Brussels.
A moral balane vs. trade
Sudan’s EU ambassador Kabeir argues that Europe cannot credibly lecture the world on human rights while its factories continue to supply ammunition that ends up in the hands of forces accused of genocide-like atrocities in Darfur.
As 81 mm mortar shells stamped “Made in the EU” rain down on Sudanese villages, the desert videos recorded by triumphant rebels have laid bare the hollowness of end-user certificates and exposed a painful truth: Europe’s lucrative arms trade with wealthy Gulf partners is helping prolong one of the 21st century’s deadliest conflicts.
Whether Brussels is finally willing to prioritise its moral balance over its trade balance remains, for now, an open and urgent question.
Sources: FRANCE 24, Politico, BTA, edited by a.k.
Caption: After a long investigation, the France 24 Observers team was able to determine that the mortar shells that appear in footage filmed by Sudanese combatants with the Joint Forces on November 21, 2024 (at left) were manufactured in Bulgaria, a country in the European Union, by the company Dunarit (at right). /France Médias Monde graphic studio/
Updated: November 18, 2025 - 13:35
