Sudan: Disturbing Reports of Sudan's Military Using Chlorine Gas

Radio Dabanga
Soldiers stand in front of demonstrators (file photo).
9 October 2025
Human Rights Watch (Washington, DC)
By Ida Sawyer

Use as a Weapon Prohibited Under International Law

The United States government sanctioned General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Sudan's de facto head of state, in January 2025, alleging that the SAF had used chemical weapons, but did not publish any evidence for the claim.

But a new investigation by France 24, a French broadcaster, provides the first public elements to corroborate the US allegations, indicating that Sudan's military may have used chlorine in two incidents in September 2024. The use of chlorine, a common industrial chemical, as a weapon is prohibited under the Chemical Weapons Convention, to which Sudan is a party.

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Exposure to chlorine or its compounds can lead to diverse symptoms from reddening and itchiness to shortness of breath and even death. Use of chlorine as a weapon would be a serious violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and is a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Journalists geolocated photographs and videos posted in September 2024 at the Garri military base and the nearby Jaili oil refinery north of Khartoum, both at the time under the control of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the SAF's opponent in the country's armed conflict.

The photographs and videos show metal containers used to store chlorine near small craters, as well as a video showing a characteristic yellow-green cloud. Journalists also interviewed witnesses and analyzed social media posts from both pro-RSF and pro-SAF accounts attesting to these events. Human Rights Watch independently verified the geolocation of the videos.

All state parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention should support a transparent investigation by the Technical Secretariat of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons including through a verification procedure called a challenge inspection. The United States should also publish the evidence on which it based its sanctions against al-Burhan.

In a conflict that has already seen both sides commit numerous war crimes, at times on a widespread scale, the apparent use of a common industrial chemical as a weapon creates a disturbing precedent. It threatens international norms banning unconscionable forms of warfare. States have a responsibility to act.

Ida Sawyer, Director, Crisis, Conflict and Arms Division

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