Ethiopia is supplying the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a genocidal UAE-backed militia, with vehicles modified for war

Ethiopia

Ethiopia is supplying the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a genocidal UAE-backed militia, with vehicles modified for war. The Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) published a new report on 8 April detailing the Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) role in RSF’s shadowy supply chain

The ENDF has reportedly been supplying RSF with military-adapted vehicles for use in the war. HRL used a full suite of open source and satellite imagery in their report. Their latest briefing shows the suspect comings and goings of vehicles and vehicle-carrying trucks to an ENDF base.

HRL concluded:

with high confidence that there is activity consistent with military assistance to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) occurring at an ENDF (Ethiopia National Defense Force) base in Asosa Town in the Benishengul-Gumuz region of Ethiopia between 29 December – 29 March 2026.

RSF, whose main backer is the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is currently engaged in a vicious war with the Sudanese government.

War in Sudan

As the Canary has reported, UAE has been a major backer of RSF in its war with the Sudanese government. Turkey, Egypt, Israel and many more countries are pursuing their own interests in Sudan too. British military components has also shown up on the battlefield in RSF hands. The UK is a major arms supplier to UAE.

As the Canaryhas said in our previous coverage of this poorly understood genocidal war:

The war in Sudan is theoretically between the Arab supremacist RSF and the Sudanese government. But foreign states pursuing their own interests are backing the combatants. The United Arab Emirates (UAE), for example, backs the RSF with arms and equipment. Egypt backs the government, alongside Russia, Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. Israel has backed both sides at different times.

The mounting death toll is similarly mindboggling:

RSF has killed Sudanese civilians in vast numbers. And some estimates say 150,000 people have died and over 10mn have been displaced by fighting.

You can read more of our reporting on RSF and Sudan here.

New Yale findings

HRL said it had:

reached its conclusions about military assistance being provided to the RSF at the ENDF facility in Asosa based on five interconnected indicators present at the base over a five-month period of satellite imagery and open source data collection.

These ‘indicators’ include many details about ‘technicals’ – light civilian pick up trucks adapted for warfighting.

  • Repeating presence of non-ENDF commercial car carriers offloading non ENDF consistent technicals.
  • Offloaded unarmed technicals consistent with vehicles allegedly bound to RSF fighters in Ethiopia.
  • Increased presence of tents, vehicle traffic, and logistics activity consistent with high tempo non-ENDF military support operations.
  • Unarmed technicals are being retrofitted with gun mounts for heavy machine guns at base.
  • Technical vehicles consistent with those present at Asosa are observed in open source data from Kurmuk.

You can read the full details in the 8 April HRL briefing here. The operation centres on the military base in Ethiopia’s Asosa Town in the Benishengul-Gumuz region – about 100km from the Sudanese border town of Kurmuk.

HRL reported:

This support occurs from within an active ENDF installation in connection with an armed actor credibly accused of committing acts of genocide and illustrates violations of UN Security Council Resolution 1591 prohibiting arms shipments to those engaged in fighting in the Darfur region.

Ethiopia and the UAE

Ethiopia and the UAE have close economic relations. Utilities Middle East reported on 7 April:

Ethiopia is placing energy and infrastructure at the centre of its deepening partnership with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with a strong focus on power, logistics and large-scale development projects.

In January 2026, both governments stated their commitment to working together on various projects:

Both sides reaffirmed the depth of their longstanding strategic partnership, and the strong foundations of mutual respect and cooperation that define the UAE-Ethiopia relationship.

Both sides reaffirmed their comprehensive and strategic partnership in the promotion and defense of each other’s peace and security, territorial integrity and economic interests.

In the same press release, Ethiopia and UAE even found space to condemn the ‘warring parties’ in the conflict in Sudan – one of which HRL says they are both secretly backing:

The UAE and Ethiopia condemned attacks against civilians by the warring parties. They called on both warring parties to ensure the protection of civilians and humanitarian personnel. The two sides underlined that the primary responsibility for ending the civil war lies with both warring parties.

From civilian truck to armed ‘technical’ – thanks to Ethiopia

Activities at Ethiopia’s Asosa base allegedly include equipping the technicals with gun mounts:

HRL has observed activities consistent with the modification of unarmed light technical vehicles to be equipped with gun mounts capable of holding heavy machine guns.

HRL added:

the livery and vehicle type are not consistent with those in standard use by Ethiopia’s armed forces.

The tightly parked vehicle were often seen on satellite imagery next to long, dark objects:

These objects are consistent with the length of a gun barrel, including the 50-caliber machine gun often used by RSF mounted on the back of technical vehicles.

While HRL concedes there are many unanswered questions about the vehicles and Ethiopia’s activities, they said:

The vehicles assessed in Asosa are consistent in color and type with vehicles utilized by RSF in battle across frontlines in Blue Nile, Sudan in March 2026

According to Middle East Eye (MEE), who also covered the HRL report, available satellite imagery:

connects the car transporters and other vehicles seen at Asosa with Berbera, the Somaliland city port that hosts a base run by the United Arab Emirates.

UAE continues to deny it is backing RSF. HRL’s forensic investigations say otherwise. Sudan’s civilians are the ones who suffer in the meantime. And they do so in numbers – and under conditions – which are at once horrifying and criminally under-reported.

Featured image via the Canary

By Joe Glenton

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