Sudan army used chlorine twice in Khartoum area attacks in 2024: report

This handout satellite photo obtained from Planet Labs PBC and dated May 6, 2025, shows smoke billowing from a fuel storage depot after a strike on Port Sudan.[FILE,Standard]

The Sudanese army, at war with paramilitaries since April 2023, used chlorine gas in two 2024 attacks north of the capital Khartoum, according to a media report released Thursday.

In June, Washington imposed sanctions on Sudan's army-allied government over the use of chemical weapons but did not specify where or when they were used.

The investigation by France24 shows the army appears to have dropped two chlorine barrels in September 2024 around the al-Jaili oil refinery north of Khartoum.

The RSF controlled the area and Sudan's largest oil facility at the time.

Human Rights Watch said "the apparent use of a common industrial chemical as a weapon creates a disturbing precedent".

Sudan's government has repeatedly denied the US allegations, calling them "baseless" and "political blackmail".

Last month, it said an internal investigation had revealed "no evidence" of chemical contamination in Khartoum state.

France24 used open source data, footage circulating on social media and the opinions of five experts to confirm the use of chlorine gas.

They verified videos showing an industrial chlorine barrel, evidently dropped from a plane on September 5, 2024 on the Garri military base near al-Jaili, that had released a yellow cloud of gas consistent with chlorine.

The report traces the barrel to an Indian company that had exported it to Port Sudan in August 2024. The company told the French outlet its intended use was "solely for the treatment of drinking water".

France24 also verified reports of a second barrel dropped from an aircraft on September 13, 2024, on the Jaili oil refinery.

The RSF has throughout the war launched drone strikes, but does not have demonstrated combat aircraft capabilities, which the Sudanese army has used extensively.

Since April 2023, the war in Sudan has killed tens of thousands of people and created the world's largest hunger and displacement crises.

It has also unleashed countless atrocities on Sudanese civilians, with both sides accused of war crimes including indiscriminate bombing and targeting civilians.

Both sides are under US sanctions, with Washington determining in January the RSF had committed genocide in the western region of Darfur.