UN Experts Link Boeing 727s to Sudan Arms Transport

Boeing 727s that Reuters linked to the business network of a US military contractor transported mercenaries, weapons and drones for Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces, United Nations experts have concluded in a draft report due for release in September.

The findings, drawn from four sources including two eyewitnesses in the RSF stronghold of Nyala and communications from two member states, provide the most detailed account yet of the cargo carried by the aging jets as they shuttled along a clandestine air corridor between Chad and Darfur.

“The Panel received reliable information from four sources that the aircraft had transported RSF fighters and mercenaries, as well as military equipment, including drones and weapons.”

: Draft UN Panel of Experts report, seen by Reuters

The report was compiled by the Security Council-mandated Panel of Experts on the Sudan, which monitors the arms embargo imposed on Darfur in 2004. It has been submitted to the Council for review.

The three 727s; one sold in Brazil to a company linked to former US Army Special Forces soldier Steven Shaulis, and two bought from Michigan-based Kalitta Charters II; appeared in Chad from November 2024 and operated from the military apron of N’Djamena airport, the report says.

Kalitta’s attorney told Reuters the company had performed extensive due diligence before the sales and that no sanctions violations were flagged.

The UN panel noted that none of the three planes had logged any movement since arriving in N’Djamena, and it suspects the Boeings were taking “deliberate steps to avoid detection while in flight”. Between January and July 2026, multiple 727s and some Ilyushin II-76s landed in Nyala at night.

Reuters had already tracked the aircraft from N’Djamena to RSF hubs in Libya and Sudan using satellite imagery, cell phone data and open-source video, but found no records of the flights on independent trackers that normally capture in-air signals.

“The RSF utilized the N’Djamena-Nyala air corridor to transport fighters, foreign mercenaries, and military equipment, including drones and weapons, into Darfur.”

: Draft UN Panel of Experts report

Shaulis, who did not respond to questions about the UN report, previously declined to answer queries about his companies or the planes. Business partner Craig Munro, joint owner of Contractor Airways; the South African firm that bought two of the 727s; told Reuters earlier that the company had never had any connection to the RSF and that reports of landings in Nyala and Kufrah, Libya, were “to the best of our knowledge, false”.

Chad’s Civil Aviation Authority said none of the Boeings had authorisation to operate from its territory and stressed that it does not manage military aviation. Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Sabre Fadoul has said questions about the planes are subject to defence secrecy and that Chad’s only role in Sudan’s war is through diplomatic peace efforts.

The UN investigation also details the scale of support from Colombian mercenaries hired by a UAE-based firm. An estimated 1,500 to 2,000 men, known as the Desert Wolves, set up a base in Nyala in March 2025 and fought alongside RSF forces during the siege and capture of al-Fashir in October 2025, the report states. The mercenaries were hired by Global Security Services Group, a company the UAE says it has investigated and found not to be involved in mercenary activity.

Sudan’s civil war erupted in 2023 after army and RSF leaders fell out over an integration plan. The fighting has killed hundreds of thousands and created what the UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.