Highlights:

• Draft UN report says planes carried arms, drones and mercenaries
• UN experts suspect Boeing 727s intentionally avoided detection
• Experts say Colombian mercenaries flew via Chad to war zone

United Nations experts have found that Boeing 727s linked by Reuters to a US military contractor's business network transported mercenaries, weapons and drones for Sudan's Rapid Support Forces, according to a draft UN report due to be published in September.

The findings provide additional important details about the role the aircraft played in supporting the RSF, the paramilitary force UN investigators have accused of committing genocide in Sudan's Darfur region.

"The Panel received reliable information from four sources that the aircraft had transported RSF fighters and mercenaries, as well as military equipment, including drones and weapons," the report said.

It cited two eyewitnesses in Nyala, the RSF's main military and logistics hub in Darfur, and communications from two member states as sources of the information, without giving further details.

A Reuters investigation published on 15 July traced three ageing Boeing aircraft operated by companies linked to Steven Shaulis, a former US Army Special Forces soldier and longtime US government contractor, from an airport in Chad to logistics hubs used by the RSF in Sudan, Libya and Somalia.

Reuters reported that one of the planes – a Boeing 737 – had RSF fighters onboard when it was destroyed in May 2025, but much remained a mystery about the planes' cargo.

The news agency found no evidence that Shaulis or his companies had been sanctioned or accused of wrongdoing by authorities.

Shaulis did not respond to questions about the UN report. He previously declined to answer queries about his companies or the Boeing planes. The RSF did not respond to comment requests.

The UN report reviewed by Reuters was compiled by the Panel of Experts on the Sudan, a group mandated by the Security Council to monitor an arms embargo imposed on Darfur in 2004. The draft report has been submitted to the Security Council for review ahead of publication.

Sudan's civil war started in 2023 when leaders of the army and the RSF fell out over plans to integrate their forces during a failed transition to civilian government. The death toll since is estimated in the hundreds of thousands and the fighting has worsened famine and disease, creating what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

Deliberate steps to avoid detection

The planes identified by the UN were among the ones Reuters linked to RSF hubs.

The UN report said three 727s – one sold in Brazil to a Shaulis-linked company and two acquired from Michigan-based Kalitta Charters II – appeared in Chad from November 2024 and operated out of the military apron of N'Djamena's airport.

Kalitta's attorney told Reuters the company had carried out extensive due diligence before the planes were sold and no sanctions violations were flagged.

The UN panel said no movement by any of the three planes had been logged since they arrived in N'Djamena, adding that it suspected the Boeings were taking "deliberate steps to avoid detection while in flight", without providing further details.

The report said that between January and July 2026, multiple Boeing 727s and some Ilyushin II-76 transport planes landed in Nyala at night.

Reuters tracked the movement of the Boeings from N'Djamena to RSF hubs in Libya and Sudan using satellite imagery, mobile phone data and an open-source video, but also found no record of the flights on independent trackers that monitor the signals aircraft normally broadcast while in the air.

"The RSF utilised the N'Djamena-Nyala air corridor to transport fighters, foreign mercenaries, and military equipment, including drones and weapons, into Darfur," the UN report stated.

Shaulis and business partner Craig Munro are joint owners of Contractor Airways, the South African company that bought two of the 727s from Kalitta, according to records reviewed by Reuters.

Munro told Reuters previously that Contractor Airways had never had any connection to the RSF. Reuters findings that the aircraft had landed in Nyala and Kufrah in Libya, he said, were "to the best of our knowledge, false".

Chad's Civil Aviation Authority said none of the Boeings had authorisation to operate from Chad, emphasising that it did not manage military aviation nor provide services responsible for tracking flight movements.

Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Sabre Fadoul has said questions about the planes were subject to defence secrecy, adding that Chad's only involvement in Sudan's war was through "diplomatic efforts to restore peace".

Colombian mercenaries

The panel's findings are part of a broader investigation into violations of the 22-year-old arms embargo on Darfur.

Beyond the findings about the Boeing 727s, UN investigators also detailed the scale of the support provided to the RSF by Colombian mercenaries hired by a company in the United Arab Emirates, saying estimates of 1,500-2,000 men were credible.

The Colombian mercenaries – known as the Desert Wolves – set up a base in Nyala in March 2025 as they fought alongside RSF forces, operating drones and participating in planning during the siege and ultimate capture of the Darfur city of al-Fashir in October 2025, the report said.

The mercenaries were hired by a UAE-based firm, Global Security Services Group (GSSG), the report found.

Unarmed men were gunned down in their hundreds, women raped, and children abducted during the RSF assault on al-Fashir last year, in violence the UN has previously said amounted to genocide.

Colombia's foreign ministry did not respond to queries. Colombia's government has previously apologised to Sudan for the presence of Colombian mercenaries in the country.

Reuters was unable to contact representatives for the Desert Wolves.

GSSG did not respond to questions from Reuters.

A spokesperson for the UAE mission to the United Nations told Reuters that UAE authorities had investigated GSSG and found it "is not involved in any mercenary activity in Sudan and does not have links to individuals reported to be mercenaries in Sudan".

The spokesperson said GSSG "is acting in full compliance with UAE laws and regulations and international law".