A remote airstrip carved into the desert of southeastern Libya has quietly become one of the most consequential pieces of infrastructure in Sudan’s devastating civil war, according to military, intelligence and diplomatic officials cited by Reuters. The airport in Kufrah, long dormant and largely ignored, is now at the center of a supply network that has helped Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces regain momentum after battlefield setbacks, altering the trajectory of a conflict that has already killed tens of thousands and displaced millions.
The war erupted in April 2023, when the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, fell out with Sudan’s national army over plans to integrate their fighters into a unified military. The RSF evolved from the Janjaweed militias that were mobilized by Khartoum two decades ago during the conflict in Darfur, and it has since grown into a powerful paramilitary force under the command of Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti. What began as a power struggle between former allies has spiraled into a nationwide catastrophe, plunging Sudan into famine and mass displacement.
According to more than a dozen officials and experts interviewed by Reuters, the airstrip at Kufrah, located roughly 300 kilometers from Sudan’s border, has provided the RSF with a vital logistical artery. Military supplies funneled through the airport helped the paramilitary group recover after Sudan’s army retook the capital, Khartoum, in March. The same supply route later underpinned the RSF’s brutal capture of al-Fashir in October, a turning point that allowed the group to consolidate control over Darfur before launching further offensives in Sudan’s south.
A United Nations official familiar with RSF operations told Reuters that the group’s use of Kufrah had “changed the whole game,” enabling the steady flow of weapons, fuel and fighters to sustain the 18-month siege of al-Fashir. The airport’s strategic importance lies not only in its proximity to Sudan, Chad and Egypt, but also in the political realities of Libya itself, a country fractured by years of conflict and rival power centers.
Kufrah sits within territory controlled by a Libyan military commander aligned with the United Arab Emirates, a Gulf state that U.N. experts and the U.S. Congress have accused of supporting the RSF. Abu Dhabi has repeatedly denied backing either side in Sudan’s war, and did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment for this report. The RSF has also denied receiving Emirati assistance.
Satellite imagery, flight-tracking data and social media analysis reviewed by Reuters paint a picture of an airport transformed. Once rarely used, Kufrah’s airstrip has undergone extensive renovations since the spring, complete with new buildings, a refurbished terminal facade, fountains and manicured lawns. Dozens of cargo flights have landed there since April, coinciding with a growing RSF presence to the south of the airport.
Justin Lynch, managing director of the Conflict Insights Group, told Reuters that his analysis identified at least 105 cargo plane landings at Kufrah between April 1 and November 1, based on correlations between satellite images and flight-tracking data. Reuters said it was unable to independently verify that figure, but Lynch argued that the “pattern, location, and aircraft” strongly correlate with previous cases of UAE support to allied forces in the region. In his assessment, Kufrah and southern Libya have become a significant logistics hub for the RSF.
The UAE’s alleged interest in Sudan extends beyond military considerations. Before the war, Emirati entities had planned billions of dollars in investments in Sudanese farmland and a Red Sea port. Hemedti himself cultivated close ties with Abu Dhabi by sending thousands of RSF fighters to support the UAE-led coalition in Yemen. These links have fueled suspicions among diplomats and analysts that Sudan’s war has become entangled in broader regional power dynamics.
Sudan’s army has repeatedly accused the RSF of using Libyan territory to secure weapons and fighters. In September, Khartoum lodged a complaint with the United Nations alleging that Colombian mercenaries had traveled via Kufrah to join the RSF. A video circulated on social media in early November showed a burning truck in northern Darfur following reports that Sudanese forces had struck RSF supply convoys coming from Libya. Reuters verified the footage but could not independently confirm the identities of those involved.
Eastern and southern Libya, including Kufrah, are under the control of the Libyan National Army led by Khalifa Haftar. The LNA has denied backing the RSF or taking sides in Sudan’s conflict. An LNA military official in Kufrah told Reuters that cargo flights into the airport were transporting civilians, soldiers and police between eastern Libyan cities, and insisted there were no RSF fighters in the area. Reuters said it was unable to reach Haftar’s senior leadership for comment.
To assess the scale of the Kufrah operation, Reuters spoke with 18 diplomatic, military and intelligence officials from Western and African countries, as well as 14 regional and military experts. Their accounts suggest that Libya’s role as a transit hub is not new, but that Kufrah represents a significant evolution in RSF logistics.
Libya has long been divided between rival factions, both accused of facilitating the smuggling of weapons, drugs and migrants. According to a December report by the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, local LNA units that seized eastern Libya nearly a decade ago with UAE backing developed trafficking ties with elements of the RSF. Shortly after Sudan’s war began, some LNA fighters helped move military cargo that had arrived in Kufrah from Benghazi toward the Sudanese border, according to a U.N. expert report. That route was later disrupted by Sudanese army advances, causing Kufrah to fall quiet once again.
The RSF renewed its focus on Kufrah after political pressure complicated its use of an airstrip in eastern Chad, previously a key supply line much closer to Darfur’s front lines. Satellite images from early this year show a camp forming about 80 kilometers south of Kufrah, which the Centre for Information Resilience, a UK-based non-profit, linked to RSF vehicles and fighters moving into Darfur.
As the RSF retreated from Khartoum, the war’s center of gravity shifted decisively toward Darfur. Re-establishing supply routes from Libya became imperative. A Western diplomatic cable reviewed by Reuters described the “Libya corridor” as a key focal point for RSF logistics after the group re-captured strategic border areas in June.
By May, Kufrah’s airport had already been revamped, and two local airlines began scheduled flights from Benghazi the following month. Satellite imagery reviewed by Reuters showed a sharp increase in large cargo planes on the tarmac, with as many as five visible at a time in the weeks leading up to al-Fashir’s fall. None had appeared in similar images from the previous year.
Flight-tracking data indicates that some of the cargo flights were operated by airlines previously accused in U.N. reports of ferrying weapons from the UAE to Libyan forces allied with Haftar. Among them was an Ilyushin-76 operated by Kyrgyz airline Sapsan Airlines, which flew from Dubai to Kufrah in June and later arrived from Somalia’s Puntland region, where the UAE has trained local security forces. Another Kyrgyz operator, FlySky Airlines, was also tracked landing aircraft at Kufrah. Both companies have been named in past U.N. investigations into arms trafficking, allegations they have denied or declined to comment on.
A video verified by Reuters showed a FlySky Ilyushin aircraft parked at Kufrah airport in May, while social media footage from November showed a partially constructed hangar taking shape. Analysts say these developments underscore how a neglected airstrip has been repurposed into a strategic hub with regional implications.
For Sudan, the emergence of Kufrah as a supply node highlights how the war has spilled far beyond its borders, drawing in neighboring states, foreign intelligence services and commercial networks. For Libya, it is another reminder of how ungoverned spaces and divided authority continue to reverberate across the region. And for civilians trapped in Sudan’s grinding conflict, the steady flow of aircraft into a desert runway hundreds of kilometers away may help explain why a war that many hoped would burn out has instead intensified, reshaped by forces far from the front lines.
