Day: September 18, 2025

🚨 Watch live coverage of the final day of U.S. President Donald Trump’s state visit to the U.K. Trump met Prime Minister Keir Starmer at Chequers and is now holding a joint press conference.

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  x.com/i/broadcasts/1ypKdqWEe…

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) Sep 18, 2025

Danish-led joint military training exercises are taking place in Greenland, marking the largest military exercise in the island’s modern history as NATO allies bolster defense cooperation in the Arctic amid rising US interest in the strategic island  reut.rs/46JUZnO

— Reuters (@Reuters) Sep 18, 2025

A new expert UN report sheds light on Turkey’s drone sales to the Islamist-aligned Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) under General Al-Burhan.

The Turkish defense firm Baykar has supplied the SAF with Bayraktar TB2 drones and, later, Akıncı high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) drones.

Shipments began in 2023, routed through intermediaries like Mali and Eritrea to evade detection, as revealed by leaked Baykar documents, financial records, and end-user certificates obtained by The Washington Post.

By mid-2025, SAF deployed these drones in offensives around Khartoum, Nyala, and El Fasher, shifting battlefield dynamics in their favor against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Multiple Akıncı drones have been shot down by RSF defenses in Darfur since July 2025, confirming their active use.

These exports breach the UN arms embargo on Darfur (Resolution 1591, extended to October 2026 via Resolution 2791), which prohibits arms transfers to non-governmental entities and warring parties in Sudan to curb violence. The embargo, in place since 2004 and broadened in 2023 amid the civil war, aims to prevent escalation.

US and EU sanctions also target SAF’s procurement arm (Defense Industries System, or DIS), which signed the Baykar deal—making the shipments illegal under these regimes.

UN experts have flagged Turkey’s weak export oversight as enabling diversions, with shipments violating notification requirements. This contravenes international humanitarian law by arming a party accused of indiscriminate attacks (e.g., SAF drone strikes on civilian areas in El Fasher, per UN and Amnesty International reports).

Around 150,000 people have been killed and 10 million have been displaced by the Sudanese Civil War, which has also created the world’s largest hunger crisis (25 million facing acute food insecurity).

SAF leader Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s regime has ties to Islamist elements from the ousted al-Bashir era (with plenty Muslim Brotherhood affiliates in the military), creating a danger that the drones could end up in the hands of radical Islamist groups.

Ankara’s $120M Baykar deal was signed on November 16, 2023, with DIS, included at least 6–8 TB2 drones, 3 ground control stations, 600 warheads, and on-site technical support from 48 Baykar staff.

Deliveries arrived via Port Sudan in August–November 2023, with follow-on Akıncı shipments in 2024–2025 via Turkish Air Force A400M flights.

Following the UN reports, there are renewed calls for Turkey and Baykar to be held accountable.

SIPRI notes that Turkey’s drone exports surged 103% between 2019–2024, with Baykar at 60% of the global UAV market share and profiting around €7 billion in 2024.

The new UN reports also shows that global  enforcement of the arms embargo remains weak, making it possible for external actors to meddle in the Sudanese Civil War.

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— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) Sep 18, 2025