On May 22, 2025, the United States accused the Sudanese army of using chemical weapons in its war against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia. The US provided no evidence to support these allegations, which the Sudanese army denied. However, France 24 Observers documented two incidents in September 2024, north of the Sudanese capital Khartoum, where video evidence shows barrels containing chlorine being dropped from the air. The use of chlorine gas as a weapon is prohibited under international law.
France 24’s Observers team verified videos and photos documenting chemical weapons attacks carried out by the Sudanese army. They were filmed in September 2024 at the Jili oil refinery north of Khartoum, which was occupied at the time by the Rapid Support Forces militia.
France 24’s fact-checkers verified videos and photos documenting chemical weapons attacks carried out by the Sudanese army. They were filmed in September 2024 at the Jili oil refinery north of Khartoum, which was occupied at the time by the Rapid Support Forces militia.
“On April 24, 2025, the United States determined … that the Government of Sudan used chemical weapons in 2024.” This is how the US State Department opened its statement on May 22, 2025, announcing economic sanctions against the Sudanese government controlled by the army. No further details were provided to support this decision. Khartoum denied the allegations the following day.
In January, The New York Times quoted US officials as saying that the Sudanese military had used chemical weapons “appearing to contain chlorine gas” against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia on at least two occasions in 2024. The officials did not provide any details.
Following the announcement of US sanctions, several Arab media outlets repeated these accusations. Rumors and unconfirmed posts spread in Sudan, including allegations of chemical weapons use in Khartoum. But so far, no documented evidence of the army’s use of chlorine gas or any other chemical weapon has been published.
Using open-source intelligence (OSINT) techniques, France 24’s Observers team in Paris examined two incidents that took place in September 2024 at the Jili oil refinery north of Khartoum and its surroundings, which the army was trying to recapture from the Rapid Support Forces. After reviewing images of the attacks collected by the monitors, five experts confirmed that they were consistent with aerial bombardment using chlorine barrels. Only the Sudanese army has the aircraft necessary for such bombardments.
The team of observers also traced the source of one of the chlorine barrels used in the attacks. The chlorine was imported from India by a Sudanese company that supplies the Sudanese army, and according to the Indian source, it was intended “only for the treatment of drinking water.” Chlorine is a vital humanitarian product in Sudan, essential for purifying water in a country prone to cholera outbreaks.
The use of chlorine for military purposes would place Sudan among the few regimes that have used this primitive killer gas since World War I, when it was used extensively. More recently, during the Syrian civil war, the international chemical weapons watchdog, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), found “reasonable grounds” to conclude that Bashar al-Assad’s regime had used chlorine as a weapon in rebel-held areas.
The two documented attacks in Sudan represent a violation of the country’s international obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention, which it ratified in 1999. The use of “asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases” on the battlefield is also classified as a war crime under the 1998 Rome Statute, which defines the crimes that the International Criminal Court (ICC) can prosecute – although Sudan does not recognize the court’s jurisdiction.
At the time of publication, neither the Sudanese army nor the government had responded to France 24’s requests for interviews.
