Leaked internal Sudanese military documents examined by The Washington Post allege that the Sudanese Armed Forces secretly built and concealed a stockpile of chlorine-based chemical munitions, with evidence pointing to a six-month weapons program centered at Merowe Air Base in 2024.
The documents identify Brigadier General Tariq Hussain as the officer heading the project. Investigators say security forces may have stockpiled as many as 290 improvised chemical munitions, assembled from repurposed tanks and modified by welders using readily available materials rather than industrial weapons-grade equipment.
Among the most troubling details: chlorine supplied by UNICEF for water treatment, including at the Al-Manara plant in Omdurman, may have been diverted toward the weapons program. UNICEF has said it holds no record of such a diversion and is reviewing the allegations.
Videos reviewed as part of the investigation reportedly show desert testing of the munitions, with green-yellow vapor rising after impact, a visual signature consistent with chlorine gas release.
The United States concluded in 2024 that the Sudanese Armed Forces had used chemical weapons and imposed sanctions in response. SAF has repeatedly denied the allegations. Gareth Williams of the Royal United Services Institute called the new evidence “alarming” but cautioned that visual material alone cannot conclusively prove an active weapons stockpile.
Human Rights Watch says any confirmed use would violate the Chemical Weapons Convention and could constitute a war crime, adding pressure on international bodies to investigate further as Sudan’s civil war, now in its third year, continues to draw accusations of atrocities from all sides.
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Source: Washington Post via Daily Kos
