Sudanese fighters accused of massacres use Canadian-made rifles

The civic state of war that erupted on apr 15, 2023, has wreaked mayhem on civilian substructure, decimated health-care facilities in Sudan and resulted in the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. An estimated 150,000 people have died in the conflict and more than 12 million civilians are internally displaced. 

The city of El Fasher — considered the last stronghold of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in Darfur — has become the epicentre of Sudan’s spiralling war. For more than 500 days, the city had been under siege, encircled entirely by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which experts have accused of ethnic cleansing. 

On Oct. 26, the city finally fell to the RSF. Reports of civilian massacres followed. 

On Oct. 5, 2024, as the battle for Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, was unfolding, the RSF posted a video on its official Telegram channel showcasing its fighters along the city’s southern front line.

Slung over the shoulder of one RSF fighter in the video is a modern-looking, bolt-action precision rifle, with a skeletonized folding stock, a handguard and a high-power scope. 

Then, for just a few frames as the fighter turns his back to the camera, a small emblem becomes visible on the rifle’s chassis: the Sterling Cross logo. 

Another undated image posted on Instagram shows an RSF fighter, clad in desert camouflage, standing on a road. On his shoulder, he holds the same Sterling Cross rifle, with the company logo visible. 

“I can assure you that Sterling Cross' policies align with that of Global Affairs Canada,” Aimee Byrne, Sterling Cross’s director of operations, said in a statement, adding the company is subject to the Export and Import Permits Act.

Sterling Cross’s website is bare bones, made up of nothing more than two buttons to contact the company’s defence and logistics arms.

CEO Tim McFarlane told B.C. Outlet The Province in 2013 that the company operated as a broker for international militaries at the beginning. “We would source product worldwide for different military agencies, then we would broker the deal, not unlike a real estate broker," he said.

According to the article, Sterling Cross opened its commercial arm in 2011, producing rifles and ammunition and advertising to Canadian hunters. But it maintained business connections abroad, including in the Middle East.

“We’re a one-kit global solution,” MacFarlane said. “We brand, we broker, we source, we manufacture.”

Sterling Cross has had contracts with the Canadian government in the past. One contract, ending in 2017, saw the company deliver ammunition to the Department of National Defence for $189,422. Another contract, also from 2017, states that the logistics side of the firm delivered $24,818 worth of goods under the Canadian commodity code for calculating machines.

Sterling Cross has produced the XLCR rifle since at least 2019. In an Instagram post, the company published an image showing at least 77 rifles captioned “XLCR final inspection before delivery !!”

All these rifles feature the same company logo, located in the same spot as on rifles seen in Sudan.

According to a 2020 Facebook post, the company was also running tests with the rifle, stating, “New product testing coming along nicely #xlcr #excelsior #ballistics #rangetesting.” That post featured another photo of a rifle with the company logo in the same spot as on the rifles spotted in Sudan.

Kholood Khair, director of the Khartoum-based think-tank Confluence Advisory, said the proliferation of foreign weapons in Sudan’s conflict has contributed to prolonging the war. 

In addition to the appearance of Turkish and Iranian drones, “we have seen reports of American, British and Canadian spare parts or full weapons making their way into RSF hands through the U.A.E.,” she said.

Canada has maintained an arms embargo on Sudan since 2004 as well as material and financial sanctions against entities and individuals implicated in the conflict since 2024. 

“Canada exports millions of dollars’ worth of weapons and systems to the U.A.E., which supplies the RSF,” said Emadeddin Badi, a Toronto-based senior fellow at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. “The U.A.E. Does not have a domestic defence industry of its own robust enough to supply multiple paramilitary groups across the region.”

Armoured vehicles produced by Canadian firm Streit Group and outfitted with machine guns have been pictured carrying RSF fighters in Sudan for more than a decade. In 2016, a UN report accused Streit Group and the U.A.E. Of brokering sales. 

However, Streit opened a factory in the U.A.E. In 2012, and there were no rules regulating the flow of weapons if they were not produced in Canada. In 2019, Canada joined the international Arms Trade Treaty and implemented legislation that requires Canadian citizens to obtain a permit to export arms from one country to another and take action against international brokers. 

According to Badi, under the new legislation, Canadian firms found to be in violation could face prosecution in Canada. 

What the fall of Sudan's El Fasher means for the war

The United Arab Emirates has been accused of providing arms to the Rapid Support Forces by U.S. Intelligence agencies and human rights groups, although it has repeatedly denied sending weapons. The SAF is reportedly backed most prominently by Egypt, Turkey and Iran. Chinese arms have also been spotted on both sides of the battlefield.

On Sunday, the U.A.E.’s senior diplomatic adviser Anwar Gargash signalled the country may be distancing itself from the conflict. 

“We all made a mistake when the two generals who are fighting the civil war today overthrew the civilian government,” said Gargash. “That was, looking back, a critical mistake. We should have put our foot down collectively. We did not call it a coup.”

According to Badi, Canada's public-facing system for tracing arms exports has a number of structural gaps. 

He said it has strict licensing rules on paper, but that it’s “weak” on monitoring weapons once they’ve left the country. “And when it relies on brokers to conduct the transfers, then the end-use chain becomes opaque,” he said.

“Canada doesn't publicly release granular trade data, unlike the United States and other countries,” said Mike Kanko, CEO of ImportGenius. “Public awareness of corporate activity is essential in an informed society. Visibility for all stakeholders keeps companies accountable, and consumers safe.”

Granular trade data would identify companies involved in shipping activity, and is distinct from statistical trade data that aggregates shipments by product category, he said. 

“Canadians ... Need to have a much better sense of their tracking and monitoring mechanism to know where weapons are ending up,” said Khair. “That is a huge part of accountability.”

“For example, under the Export and Imports Permit Act, Canada might place the U.A.E. On the Country Control List, or it could impose re-export conditions on it through the Broker Control List,” he said. 

Badi said “Canada needs to do better.”

“This isn’t to say there aren’t legal mechanisms, but ultimately with the way the U.A.E. Funnels its support — mostly through shell companies registered in foreign jurisdictions — it’s going to be a game of Whac-a-Mole.”

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