Weapons bearing the logo of a Canadian arms manufacturer have been identified in the hands of a banned group in Sudan responsible for the massacre, a CBC investigative analysis has found.
The civil war that broke out on April 15, 2023, has wreaked havoc on social infrastructure, crippled health care facilities in Sudan and resulted in the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. Estimated 150,000 People have died in the conflict and more than 12 million people have been internally displaced.
The town of El Fasher – home to the last stronghold of the Sudanese armed forces (SAF) in Darfur – has become a battleground for Sudan’s war. For more than 500 days, the city has been under siege, completely surrounded by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which experts have accused of ethnic cleansing.
On Oct. 26, the Department eventually fell to the RSF. Reports of massacres by massacres followed.
Several photos were posted online and confirmed by the CBC Show Rifles by Sterling Cross Defense Systems, an Abbotsford, BC-based rifle and ammunition company, in the hands of the RSF.
Photos shared on social media by RSF Fighters – Noted over the years by similar research groups War Noir and Streaking Delilahand verified by CBC – We show XLCR SNLCR HINGCR HISTERS rifles in the hands of people fighting all over Sudan since at least 2023.
The CBC investigative team confirmed these images by preparing them in Sudan or similar models and camo designs to those used in Sudan. CBC also confirmed the design of the Sterling Cross XLCR, featuring a distinctive logo found on the bottom of the Rifle, just above the magazine well.
On Oct. 5, 2024, as the battle for the capital of Sudan, Khartoum, took place, the RSF sent a video through its official telegraph channel showing the fighters of the Southern Southern Front Ball.
Combine the RSF fighter’s single shoulder into a video-friendly, bolt-ass-action precision rifle, with a folding stock, powerful stock and high rating.
Then, in just a few frames as the guard turns back to the camera, a small sign appears on the Rifle’s chassis: the sterling cross logo.
This is not the appearance of a weapon in Sudan. With the help of open source forensics researchers, the CBC investigative team has confirmed at least nine photos or videos of rifles bearing the Sterling Cross Logo.
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Another inappropriate image posted on Instagram shows an RSF fighter, clad in desert camouflage, standing on a street. On his shoulder, he holds the same gun on the edge, with the company’s logo visible.
A soft cross
When reached for comment, the major cross would not answer specific questions about CBC’s acquisition in Sudan, its overseas business – which will fall under the arms of Global Affication Canada – and whether weapons have been sold to countries suspected of Sudan, including the United Arab Emirates.
“I can assure you that the policies of Sterling Cross are in line with these global issues,” said the Director of Operations, of the statement, adding the company under the Law of Accession.
Global News Canada did not respond to CBC’s request for comment by the time of publication.
The Sterling Cross website is bare bones, consisting of nothing more than two contact buttons for the arms of the Defense and Logistics company.
The small firm was founded in 2008, according to incorporation documents seen by the CBC, and is based at the Plaza in Abbotsford, which also offers heating and industrial businesses.
CEO TIM MCFarlane told BC Outlet Province In 2013 that the company acted as a merchant of foreign wars at first. “We would have a global product portfolio with different military agencies, then we would issue a contract, not unlike a real estate agent,” he said.
According to this article, Sterling Cross opened its commercial arm in 2011, producing firearms and ammunition and marketing to Canadian hunters. But business connections continued abroad, including in the Middle East.
“We’re a one-kit solution,” Macfarlane said. “We are the product, we Broker, we find him, we do it.”
Grand Cross has had contracts with the Canadian government in the past. One contractThe end of 2017, saw the company deliver ammunition to the Department of National Defense for $189,422. Another contractand since 2017, it means that the Logistics side of the firm has been moved $ 24,818 goods under Canadian Commercial Code with calculators.
Sterling Cross has produced the XLCR rifle since at least 2019. Posted by Instagramthe company published a photo showing at least 77 rifles with the caption “XLCR final inspection before delivery!!”
All these rifles display the same logo of the company, which is located in the same place as the rifles seen in Sudan.
In accordance with 2020 Facebook postThe company was also testing the gun, saying, “A new product test that comes with #xlcr #excelsior # bangetistics #rangeting.” That post revealed another image of a rifle with the company’s logo in the same location as the rifles seen in Sudan.
Brokers International
Hood Khair, the director of the Khortoum-based Confession-Tank Confluence Delued, said that the increase in foreign weapons in the attack on Sudan has contributed to the continuation of the war.
In addition to the appearance of Turkish and Iranian drones, “We have seen reports of American, British and Canadian units or full weapons making their way to the RSF through the UAE,” he said.
Canada has maintained an embargo on Sudan since 2004 and material and financial restrictions on businesses and individuals involved in the conflict since 2024.
It is not clear how unlicensed weapons are getting into Sudan. But experts told CBC countries like the United Arab Emirates have received Canadian equipment before.
“Canada sends millions of dollars worth of weapons and systems to the UAE, which it supplies to the RSF,” said Emadeddin Badi, a top Toronto-based international organized crime figure. “The UAE does not have a domestic defense industry of its own strength enough to supply large groups of ammunition across the region.”
Armored vehicles produced by Charadian Firm Striet Group and equipped with machine guns have been shown carrying RSF fighters in Sudan for more than a decade. In 2016, a UN report The Stried Group and UAE consumer sales.
However, Sustret opened a factory in the UAE in 2012, and there were no laws governing the movement of weapons if they were produced in Canada. In 2019, Canada joined the International Arms Trade Weary and implemented legislation requiring Canadian citizens to obtain a permit to export weapons from one country to another.
According to Bidi, under the new law, Canadian firms found in fraud can face prosecutors in Canada.
The two-and-a-half-year war between Sudan’s warring rivals has taken another turn for the worse with the capture of El Fasher in the Darfur region by armed forces. In Chris’s Chris’s National Chris, Chrc, Chris broke down what happened and why the UN is calling it the biggest disaster in the world.
The United Arab Emirates has been accused of providing arms to the force for rapid support by intelligence agencies and human rights groups, although they have repeatedly refused to send weapons. SUF it is reported to be backed up Especially with Egypt, Turkey and Iran. The Chinese arms are four and shown on both sides of the war.
On Sunday, the UAE senior adviser to the UAE ANWAR Gargash – open The country is likely to distance itself from the conflict.
“We all made a mistake when the two producers who are fighting a civil war today overthrew the country’s government,” Gargash said. “That was a hindsight, a serious mistake. We should have put our foot down collectively. We didn’t call it that.”
‘Canada must do better’
According to Badi’s plan, facing Canada is facing a public tracking of arms exports to countries with many structural gaps.
He said it has strong color laws on paper, but that it is “weak” in tracking weapons once they leave the country. “And when it’s up to consumers to make the transfer, then the end-use chain becomes opaque,” he said.
CBC consulted on the import of CBC, a global trade data platform, to obtain records of foreign trade between Canada, the UAE and Sudan. No detailed records can be disclosed.
“Canada does not publicly release granular Trade data, unlike the United States and other countries,” said Mike Kanko, ENGEO’s manager of Imports. “Community awareness is essential to an informed society. The visibility of all stakeholders keeps companies accountable, and consumers safe.”
Granurar’s trade data will identify companies involved in shipping, and is separate from statistical trade data that includes shipments by product category, he said.
“Canadians … need to have a much better sense of tracking and monitoring how to know where weapons end up,” Khair said. “That’s a big part of being accountable.”
Nicholas Coughlan, who was in Canada’s Nenoy in South Sudan, told the CBC that Canadian law enforcement could deal with the issue.
“For example, under the Export and Import Authorization Act, Canada can put the UAE on the country’s control list, or it can set conditions for re-exports on the consumer list,” he said.
Badi said “Canada has to do better.”
“This does not mean that there are no legal means, but in the end the way the UAE funnels its support – mainly through shell companies registered in foreign jurisdictions – will be a game of WHAC-A-mole.”
