Our work.

Reports we publish, investigations we build with media partners, testimony we give — and the coverage our research informs.

Reports.

Cover of Blood Money: How UAE Support and Foreign Mercenaries Enabled the Fall of El Fasher

CIG report · April 2026

Blood Money: How UAE Support and Foreign Mercenaries Enabled the Fall of El Fasher

Using commercially available phone-location data, CIG tracked more than 50 devices associated with Colombian mercenaries operating in Sudan between April 2025 and January 2026. Three case studies trace a pipeline from a UAE military training facility in Ghayathi, Abu Dhabi, through Bosaso and Kufra, to the RSF's drone hub at Nyala — and place devices inside El Fasher during the RSF's October 2025 takeover.

With partners.

Screenshot of the Lighthouse Reports investigation page: Inside the secret network fueling Sudan's war

Lighthouse Reports · with Evident and Sudan War Monitor · 29 June 2026

Inside the secret network fueling Sudan's war

Reporting from Kufra and Benghazi, with interviews of RSF defectors and Libyan National Army officers, revealed four previously unidentified RSF camps in eastern Libya. CIG analysed phones located at Camp 17, outside Benghazi, and found evidence of at least two South American mercenaries at the site in summer 2025 — one device set to Colombian Spanish, another to Argentine Spanish.

Read the investigation → Screenshot: Lighthouse Reports
Satellite images of three Boeing aircraft — two 727s and a 737 — on airport aprons, annotated with their serial numbers

Reuters · Investigation · 15 July 2026

The US army veteran and the mystery Boeings flying Sudan's war routes

Reuters traced three ageing Boeings operated by companies controlled by a US Army Special Forces veteran and longtime government contractor from N'Djamena to RSF logistics hubs at Kufra and Nyala — using satellite imagery, mobile-phone data and open-source video, with no record of the flights on public trackers. A UN Panel of Experts later found the aircraft carried mercenaries, weapons and drones for the RSF.

Read at Reuters → Image: Reuters

Testimony and briefings.

Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission · U.S. House of Representatives · 21 October 2026

One Year After the Fall of El Fasher: How Transnational Networks Finance Crimes in Sudan

Justin Lynch briefed the Commission's co-chairs, Rep. James P. McGovern and Rep. Chris Smith, alongside Mona Rishmawi of the UN Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan, Kholood Khair of Confluence Advisory and Daniel P. Sullivan of Refugees International, on how more than twenty states feed Sudan's war — and on CIG's tracking of UAE-backed mercenaries into El Fasher.

In the news.

Reporting that draws on CIG research, and interviews with our team.

Financial Times · August 2026 The mercenaries fighting in Africa's forgotten war The New York Times · The Athletic · May 2026 Calls for sanctions against Man City owner Sheikh Mansour over Sudan conflict BBC · April 2026 Phone tracking shows how Colombian mercenaries backed Sudan's RSF Reuters · February 2026 Egypt's drone deployment to border raises stakes in Sudan's civil war The Washington Post · January 2026 After Yemen rift, Saudi Arabia aims to oust UAE from wider region Reuters · December 2025 How a remote airstrip in Libya reshaped Sudan's civil war Al Jazeera · November 2025 · Interview Foreign support aided RSF massacres in El Fasher CNN · October 2025 · Interview RSF accused of massacres after seizing El Fasher CNN · October 2025 Bloodbath feared as rebels trap thousands in Sudan city The Economist · June 2025 The war in Sudan is spilling over its borders Reuters · March 2025 South Sudan says arrested VP Machar tried to stir rebellion BBC Drone attacks raise stakes in new phase of Sudan's civil war BBC Sudan air force bombing of towns, markets and schools has killed hundreds, report says The Globe and Mail How gold tarnished Tigray