On November 7, PBI-Canada observed a protest march in Ottawa that called for “peace, freedom, justice” in Sudan, expressed concerns about external powers seeking control of Sudan given it is Africa’s third largest producer of gold, and noted news reports about Canadian-made weapons used in the context of war crimes.
Specific concern was expressed about the city of el-Fasher in Darfur, where, as the BBC reports, more than 150,000 people are estimated to have been killed over the past two years in the war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a Darfur-based paramilitary that emerged from the Janjaweed militia.
Human rights defenders
Both the SAF and RSF have been implicated in human rights violations that could include the targeting of human rights defenders.
Earlier this year, a report on the Situation of human rights in the Sudan by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights detailed “widespread disappearances and a generalised crackdown on civic space, including killings of journalists and attacks on human rights defenders.”
That UN report specifically called “upon the parties to the conflict … to refrain from restricting civic space and the work of civil society representatives, human rights defenders, inclusive of women human rights defenders, and journalists, including on the basis of states of emergency and emergency orders.”
Front Line Defenders has also noted: “The ongoing violence by government forces, pro-government militia groups and anti-government armed group forms the backdrop to continued harassment, arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detentions and alleged torture of human rights defenders (HRDs) by Sudanese military and security forces.”
UNSC and Canada sanction Sudan
The Government of Canada says: “On July 30, 2004, acting under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1556 imposing sanctions against Sudan in response to the humanitarian crisis and widespread human rights violations resulting from the conflict in Darfur region.”
UNSC Resolution 1556 states: “All states shall take the necessary measures to prevent the sale or supply, to all non-governmental entities and individuals, including the Janjaweed, operating in the states of North Darfur, South Darfur and West Darfur, by their nationals or from their territories or using their flag vessels or aircraft, of arms and related materiel of all types, including weapons and ammunition, military vehicles and equipment, paramilitary equipment, and spare parts for the aforementioned, whether or not originating in their territories…”
Weapons exports to the UAE
Amnesty International has documented: “Despite the mandatory UNSC embargo which has been in place for two decades, recently manufactured weapons and military equipment from countries such as Russia, China, Türkiye, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are being imported in large quantities into Sudan, and then diverted into Darfur.”
Over the past five years, Canada has exported more than $62 million of military goods to the United Arab Emirates: $7,071,997.75 in 2024, $13,371,252.28 in 2023, $25,624,998.56 in 2022, $3,070,851.22 in 2021, and $24,818,351.43 in 2020.
Rifles and armoured vehicles in Sudan
Now, CBC News reports:
“Weapons bearing the logo of a Canadian arms manufacturer have been identified in the hands of a paramilitary group in Sudan responsible for massacres of civilians, analysis by CBC’s visual investigations unit has found.
The city of El Fasher — considered the last stronghold of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in Darfur — has become the epicentre of Sudan’s spiralling war. For more than 500 days, the city had been under siege, encircled entirely by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which experts have accused of ethnic cleansing. On Oct. 26, the city finally fell to the RSF. Reports of civilian massacres followed.
Multiple photos posted online and verified by CBC show rifles with the logo of Sterling Cross Defense Systems, an Abbotsford, B.C.-based company that produces firearms and ammunition, in the hands of RSF fighters.
When reached for comment, Sterling Cross would not answer specific questions about CBC’s findings in Sudan, its current international arms sale business — which would fall under the purview of Global Affairs Canada — and whether it has sold weapons to countries that are alleged to supply factions in Sudan, including the United Arab Emirates.
Global Affairs Canada did not respond to CBC’s request for comment in time for publication.
It’s unclear how the Sterling Cross-branded weapons made their way into Sudan. But experts told CBC countries such as the United Arab Emirates have rerouted Canadian equipment in the past.
Armoured vehicles produced by Canadian firm Streit Group and outfitted with machine guns have been pictured carrying RSF fighters in Sudan for more than a decade. In 2016, a UN report accused Streit Group and the U.A.E. of brokering sales.
However, Streit opened a factory in the U.A.E. in 2012, and there were no rules regulating the flow of weapons if they were not produced in Canada. In 2019, Canada joined the international Arms Trade Treaty and implemented legislation that requires Canadian citizens to obtain a permit to export arms from one country to another and take action against international brokers.”
The full CBC News article can be read at Sudanese fighters accused of massacres use Canadian-made rifles (CBC News, November 7, 2025).
We continue to follow this situation.
