Washington, DC, November 15 (Darfur24)
A new investigative report by The Sentry has revealed that Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are among the major foreign beneficiaries of Libya’s rapidly expanding fuel-smuggling industry, an illicit trade that has cost Libyans an estimated $20 billion between 2022 and 2024.
The report shows that cheap, diverted Libyan fuel has become a critical supply line sustaining the RSF’s military campaign in Darfur.
According to The Sentry, Libya is losing roughly $6.7 billion each year to fuel smuggling, driven by the exploitation of one of the world’s most distorted subsidy systems. The scheme has deepened Libya’s economic crisis, drained state revenues, and empowered armed groups and political elites in both the east and west of the country.
The report identifies Saddam Haftar as the central figure behind the surge in fuel smuggling. His armed coalition controls much of eastern and southern Libya, enabling large-scale diversion of fuel to neighboring states, including Sudan. Fuel smuggled through southern Libya is transported into RSF-held areas, helping to sustain the group’s operations in Darfur.
The impact inside Libya has been severe. Despite strong oil production, the Central Bank of Libya has reported consecutive hard-currency deficits as crude oil is traded for fuel imports—more than half of which is siphoned off by criminal networks. The losses have weakened the National Oil Corporation, driven inflation, worsened fuel shortages, and reduced Libya’s ability to pay salaries and fund essential imports.
The Sentry notes that smuggling networks in Zawiyah and Misrata have also expanded operations, moving imported fuel into Haftar-controlled areas before it is pushed onward into Chad, Niger, and Sudan. This nationwide collusion has tightened the grip of powerful families, most notably the Haftars and the Dabaibas, over Libya’s energy sector.
The effects stretch far beyond Libya’s borders. Malta and Italy have been impacted by illicit fuel entering their markets. Russia has also benefited, using Libyan-sourced fuel to support military operations across sub-Saharan Africa. But The Sentry stresses that the RSF’s use of Libyan fuel to wage war in Darfur represents one of the most dangerous regional spillovers.
Despite repeated promises from Libyan leaders to reform the subsidy system, the report concludes that the explosion in smuggling “would not have been possible” without the complicity—and in some cases direct profit—of senior political and security officials in Tripoli and Benghazi.
The Sentry warns that without strong international action, Libya’s rulers will continue to profit while ordinary Libyans pay the price through economic collapse, corruption, and the erosion of the country’s primary revenue source, the National Oil Corporation.