A US Military Magazine Reveals Further Details About Cargo Flights Arming RSF Militia

Sudanhorizon– Agencies

The African Defense Forum (ADF), a quarterly publication of the US Africa Command, which describes itself as forum providing an international platform for African security experts and covers all 54 countries on the African continent, published an dense report on cargo flights arming the Sudanese paramilitary group,” the Rapid Support Forces militia. The report is based on investigations published by both the French newspaper Le Monde and Reuters.

The magazine stated that an investigation revealed that an airline based in Burkina Faso conducted dozens of flights between the United Arab Emirates and a military base in Ethiopia.

The military magazine said that the investigation by the French newspaper Le Monde revealed that Batout Air, based in Burkina Faso, conducted dozens of flights between the UAE and Ethiopia, where the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces operate a training camp.
According to the investigation, Batout Air is an air cargo company registered in Burkina Faso’s capital, but its flights are “almost exclusively limited to the United Arab Emirates and Ethiopia, where the Sudanese military leadership claims that the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces operate training camps across the Sudanese border.”

The magazine noted that the investigation, conducted by Le Monde, tracked Batout Air’s activities since it began operations in November 2025 to reach this conclusion. The report confirms that the company operates Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft that have spent the past decade grounded and unused in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan.

According to Le Monde, the cargo planes made at least 36 flights between the UAE and Ethiopia in the past four months. Batout Air’s planes did not fly in Burkina Faso during that entire period.

The Le Monde investigation raised questions about Batout Air’s financial situation. The company purchased three Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft for millions of dollars, while its bank balance at the time of its registration in Burkina Faso was less than $17,000. The source of the funds used to purchase the aircraft remains unclear.

According to Le Monde, the company is owned by Sudanese businessman Mohamed Omar Suleiman Idris. In addition to transporting military supplies, the aircraft secretly transports Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo “Hemedti” and his deputy, his brother Abdel Rahim Dagalo, throughout the region.

During its flights between the United Arab Emirates and Ethiopia, Batout Air pilots typically disable their transponders over the Red Sea as they approach Ethiopia. The aircraft then land either at Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa or at the Bishoftu Air Base of the Ethiopian National Defense Forces, southeast of the capital.

The military magazine notes that the Sudanese army has repeatedly accused the UAE of supplying the RSF with weapons. UN experts have described this claim as credible. At the beginning of the Sudanese civil war, UN officials discovered that the UAE was supplying the RSF with weapons via an airport built by the UAE in eastern Chad.

The UAE has vehemently denied supporting the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). However, analysts point to an ongoing relationship between the UAE and the RSF, centered on gold, which is suspected of being smuggled from Darfur and laundered in the UAE.

The UAE also invests heavily in Sudan’s agricultural sector, primarily in the states of Gezira and Sennar, north of Blue Nile State, which government forces recaptured from the RSF in 2024.

The military magazine’s report noted that Reuters stated in February that the UAE is funding a training camp in the Benishangul-Gumuz region of northwestern Ethiopia, which includes a drone base at the nearby Assosa airport. Satellite imagery shows tents and shipping containers at a camp capable of training thousands of RSF fighters.

The magazine quoted Reuters as saying that “observers have suggested that Ethiopia has allowed the camp to operate as part of its growing relationship with the UAE.”

Reuters added: “This camp represents the first direct evidence of Ethiopian involvement in the Sudanese civil war, signaling a potentially dangerous development as it provides the Rapid Support Forces with a significant supply of new recruits amid escalating fighting in South Sudan.”

Sudanese authorities told Middle East Eye that the attackers came from Ethiopia and controlled the drones used in the attack from there.

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