GENEVA, Sept 3 - Foreign weapons, military technology, fighters and logistical networks are helping sustain Sudan's conflict and expanding the warring parties' ability to strike deep into civilian areas, a United Nations fact-finding mission said in a report published on Thursday, warning that some attacks may amount to war crimes.

Sudan's war erupted in April 2023 following a power struggle between Sudan's military and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) ahead of a planned transition to civilian rule. The conflict has devastated the country, displaced more than 14 million people and created what the United Nations has described as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

The U.N. mission said investigators found reasonable grounds to believe that a transnational network involving individuals and entities in the United Arab Emirates, Chad, Libya and Somalia supplied the RSF with weapons, military equipment, logistics, training and foreign personnel.

The UAE, Chad, Libya and Somalia, the RSF and Sudan's military did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters.

The UAE rejected allegations that it had provided military, logistical, financial or political support to the RSF, and Chad said it remained neutral in the war and denied knowledge of weapons transfers through its territory, according to the report.

The U.N. mission also said it obtained evidence that Colombian contractors played a significant role in operating and maintaining drone systems and other advanced weapons used by the RSF. It estimated the total number of Colombian contractors involved could approach 2,000 and said some were present during operations around al-Fashir in Darfur.

Colombia told investigators it opposed mercenarism and was taking steps to address the participation of Colombian nationals in foreign conflicts.

Mass killings of non‑Arab communities when the RSF captured al‑Fashir bore hallmarks that point to genocide, the U.N. mission said in a previous report in February.

In the past, the RSF has denied such abuses, say...