Sudan military destroyed UAE plane carrying Colombian mercenaries: State TV

Sudan’s air pressure has destroyed a UAE plane carrying Colombian mercenaries as it was touchdown at an airport in Darfur managed by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), army-aligned state TV reported.

The assault late on Wednesday killed at least 40 people, the state broadcaster reported.

The airport has not too long ago come under repeated air strikes by the Sudanese military, which has been at struggle with the RSF since April 2023.

A military source, talking to the AFP news company on condition of anonymity, said the Emirati plane “was bombed and completely destroyed” at Darfur’s Nyala airport.

There was no fast remark from the RSF.

AFP quoted an Emirati official denouncing what he thought of false allegations that the Sudanese military had destroyed the plane.

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro said his authorities was attempting to discover out how many Colombians died in the assault.

“We will see if we can bring their bodies back,” he wrote on X.

State TV said the plane had taken off from an airbase in the Gulf, carrying dozens of overseas fighters and military gear meant for the RSF, which controls practically all of Darfur.

The military, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has long accused the United Arab Emirates of supplying superior weaponry, including drones, to the RSF via Nyala Airport.

Abu Dhabi has denied the accusations.

Satellite pictures launched by Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab have shown a number of Chinese-made long-range drones at the airport of the South Darfur state capital.

On Monday, Sudan’s army-aligned authorities accused the UAE of recruiting and funding Colombian mercenaries to battle for the RSF, claiming it has paperwork proving that.

Reports of Colombian fighters in Darfur date back to late 2024 and have been confirmed by United Nations specialists.

Colombia seeks to ban mercenaries

This week, the Joint Forces – a pro-army coalition in Darfur – reported more than 80 Colombian mercenaries combating on the RSF’s facet in el-Fasher, the last Darfur state capital still under military control.

The military also launched video footage it said was of “foreign mercenaries believed to be from Colombia”, which couldn’t be independently verified.

In December, Sudan said Colombia’s Foreign Ministry had expressed remorse “for the participation of some of its citizens in the war”.

Colombian mercenaries, many former troopers and guerrillas, have appeared in other global conflicts and had been beforehand employed by the UAE for operations in Yemen and the Gulf.

In his post on Wednesday, Petro said he was transferring to ban mercenary exercise, calling it “a trade in men turned into commodities to kill”.

As combating continues, 1000’s of households trapped in the besieged metropolis of el-Fasher are at “risk of starvation”, the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) has warned.

An outbreak of cholera in the North Darfur state, of which el-Fasher is the capital, has additional added to the distress.

Sudan’s struggle, now in its third yr, has killed tens of 1000’s, displaced 13 million, and plunged the nation into the world’s worst starvation and displacement disaster.