There is activity consistent with military assistance to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) occurring at an ENDF (Ethiopia National Defense Force) base in Asosa Town in the Benishengul-Gumuz region of Ethiopia between 29 December – 29 March 2026.

Full report at end of summary

Executive Summary


The Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) has concluded with high confidence that there is activity consistent with military assistance to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) occurring at an ENDF (Ethiopia National Defense Force) base in Asosa Town in the Benishengul-Gumuz region of Ethiopia between 29 December – 29 March 2026. Yale HRL also identifies air activity and defensive hardening at the airport in the form of defensive fighting positions as well as expansion of airport facilities, including a new hangar and concrete pad. The construction findings at Asosa airport corroborate recent reporting by Reuters. These findings represent clear visual evidence over a five-month period that RSF is basing its attacks on Blue Nile State, Sudan from inside Ethiopian sovereign territory. This support occurs from within an active ENDF installation in connection with an armed actor credibly accused of committing acts of genocide and illustrates violations of UN Security Council Resolution 1591 prohibiting arms shipments to those engaged in fighting in the Darfur region.

HRL has reached its conclusions about military assistance being provided to the RSF at the ENDF facility in Asosa based on five interconnected indicators present at the base over a five-month period of satellite imagery and open source data collection. These indicators, which have been compared with activity patterns at 14 other ENDF bases, are as follows:

  1. Repeating presence of non-ENDF commercial car carriers offloading nonENDF consistent technicals: Multiple commercial car carriers inconsistent with ENDF heavy equipment transports (HETs) repeatedly arrive and offload nonENDF consistent unarmed technicals at the Asosa Town ENDF base since the end of December 2025. No similar activity pattern is observed by HRL at 14 other ENDF bases in the region, including those where ENDF-consistent HETs are visible. Many of the car carriers at the Asosa base are consistent with the blue color and dimensions of car carriers seen in open source videos taken as early as November 2025; these videos show car carriers allegedly transporting technicals bound from Berbera, Somalia to RSF fighters operating from bases in Ethiopia to attack Blue Nile State, Sudan. HRL observed a white car carrier with
    at least two light technicals loaded on its trailer in satellite imagery heading westward outside Mendi in the direction of Asosa.
  2. Offloaded unarmed technicals consistent with vehicles allegedly bound to RSF fighters in Ethiopia: The offloaded technicals match the dimensions and colors of many of the vehicles seen in open source videos taken as early as November 2025 of vehicles loaded on car carriers observed at the ENDF base allegedly transporting them from Berbera, Somalia to RSF fighters in Ethiopia. These technicals arrive at the base unarmed and have livery inconsistent with ENDF vehicles of equivalent size and make observed at other ENDF installations by HRL. Increased presence of tents, vehicle traffic, and logistics activity consistent with high tempo non-ENDF military support operations: HRL identifies logistics activity, including the arrival of multiple standard “CONEX” commercial shipping containers, the disbursement of supplies, and the appearance of between five to approximately 15 tents capable of holding up to as many as 150 personnel in total at the ENDF base inconsistent with activity observed at other ENDF bases in this timeframe. This activity includes frequent arrivals and departures of commercial transports inconsistent with ENDF livery, massive fluctuations of non-ENDF technical vehicles, and the arrival of white colored armored personnel carriers inconsistent with ENDF livery. Additionally, the ENDF base at Asosa has multiple fuel tanks present at the facility, unlike the alleged RSF base identified by Reuters in Menge district, which can support large scale refueling of the non-ENDF consistent vehicles entering and exiting the base since November 2025.
  3. Unarmed technicals are being retrofitted with gun mounts for heavy machine guns at base: In February 2026 satellite imagery, HRL observes some unarmed non-ENDF technicals with uniform gun mounts capable of holding heavy
    machine guns. Objects measuring 1.6 meters consistent with 50-caliber machine guns are present in rows on the ground near the vehicles fitted with mounts.
  4. Technical vehicles consistent with those present at Asosa are observed in open source data from Kurmuk: Vehicles consistent with the colors, size, and armament of technicals present at Asosa are visible in open source photos and
    video collected from contemporaneous fighting by RSF units in and around Kurmuk and other Blue Nile frontlines during the period in which alleged military assistance to RSF is observed at the ENDF base. The ENDF base is located
    approximately 100 kilometers from Kurmuk, Blue Nile, Sudan.

Full Report

Military Assistance to RSF Occurring at ENDF Base in Asosa, Ethiopia – Yale UniversityDownload