Russia Ready to Send Weapons to Sudan If Khartoum Vows Not to Use Them in Darfur - Agency

ABU DHABI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd February, 2021) Russia is ready to deliver weapons to Sudan, provided that the government ensures they will not be used in the restive Darfur region, an official of Russia's Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) told Sputnik on Monday.

"The fulfillment of contract commitments in the sphere of military and technical cooperation by Russian organizations to the government structures of the Republic of Sudan is authorized, provided that the products, delivered under these commitments, will not be used in the states of North Darfur, South Darfur and West Darfur of the Republic of Sudan," the official said at the international arms exhibition IDEX-2021 in Abu Dhabi.

The FSMTC representative added that Russia might supply Khartoum with modern types of weapons and conduct maintenance and modernization of the military production that had been already received by Sudan.

The hostilities in the Darfur region has been ongoing since 2003, when insurgent groups initiated a campaign to overthrow then-President Omar Bashir, who was eventually toppled in 2019. The United Nations estimated some 300,000 people died and nearly 3 million were displaced during the armed conflict.