DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The mystery surrounding a crashed cargo plane in Sudan, allegedly downed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), deepened on Tuesday as authorities insisted the aircraft had been de-registered in Kyrgyzstan.
The identity of the crew flying the Ilyushin Il-76 at night over war-torn Darfur remains unclear. The aircraft was previously linked to the United Arab Emirates’ alleged efforts to arm the RSF, which the UAE has vehemently denied despite evidence to the contrary.
The plane’s crash early Monday highlights the ongoing chaos in Sudan, which has been engulfed in a devastating war between the RSF and Sudan’s military since April 2023. The conflict has resulted in over 24,000 deaths, forced millions to flee their homes, and led to widespread famine in parts of the country.
Mobile phone footage posted online showed RSF fighters among the plane’s burning wreckage, claiming to have shot it down with a surface-to-air missile. Identity documents found at the scene included a Russian passport and an ID linked to a UAE-based company, whose phone number was disconnected.
A crumpled safety card from the aircraft identified the plane as flown by New Way Cargo of Kyrgyzstan. However, Zuurakan Kadyrova of New Way Cargo told The Associated Press on Tuesday that her firm’s lease of the aircraft expired at the end of 2023.
“Since then, we have no records regarding the aircraft,” she said. “We are saddened by the news of the incident in Sudan and express our condolences to the crew and their families.”
Kyrgyzstan’s state-run Kabar news agency reported, citing the country’s Foreign Ministry, that the plane had been removed from its aircraft registry in January this year “and transferred to the registration of the Republic of Sudan.” No Kyrgyz nationals died in the crash.
The RSF maintained that the aircraft belonged to the Sudanese military and had been operated by “jihadist militia groups.” It claimed to have collected the aircraft’s black box and other documents that revealed the aircraft’s operations.
Sudan has been unstable since the removal of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019. The transition to democracy was derailed by a military coup in October 2021, leading to the ongoing conflict between the army and the RSF.
Al-Bashir faces charges at the International Criminal Court for his role in the genocidal campaign in Darfur in the early 2000s. Rights groups and the UN accuse the RSF and allied Arab militias of targeting ethnic African groups in the current war.
Conflict Observatory, a US State Department-funded group monitoring the war in Sudan, linked New Way Cargo’s Ilyushin Il-76s to arming the RSF in a report this month.
The report said the airline had facilitated UAE arms transfers through flights to Chad. Amdjarass, where the shoot-down reportedly happened, is located near the border with Chad.
It remains unclear who took control of the aircraft in Sudan. Officials with Burhan’s government, based in Port Sudan, were unable to be reached for comment.
Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis in Sudan continues to worsen. According to Save the Children, more than 25 million people, about half the population, are in need of aid.
“Sudanese children are surviving bombs and bullets, only to risk dying from starvation and disease,” said Mohamed Abdiladif, its interim country director in Sudan.
