Serbian weapons and ammunition have been identified in Sudan, violating a United Nations (UN) arms embargo, according to a report by Amnesty International. The report, published on July 25, reveals that weapons and ammunition from Serbia, China, Russia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen are being imported in large quantities and used in the ongoing civil war in Sudan.

The findings raise concerns about Serbia's arms export practices. Serbia's arms industry, a legacy of Cold War-era Yugoslavia, remains a significant economic sector, employing 20,000 people in a country of 7mn. Serbia is the largest weapons producer in the Western Balkans and ranks 25th globally in arms exports, exceeding $1.6bn in 2023, according to the Ministry of Defence.

Serbia, which claims military neutrality, appears to be indiscriminate about where its arms end up. In June, the Financial Times (FT) reported that Serbia, despite its friendship with Russia, had exported €800mn worth of ammunition to Western partners since February 2022, which indirectly ended up in Ukraine. In response to the claim, President Aleksandar Vucic told the FT: “Yes, we do export our ammunition ... What they do with that in the end is their job."

Serbia has also been stepping up its exports to Israel, despite its historic friendship with Palestine. During the Cold War, Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito was a strong supporter of Palestine and a close friend of Yasser Arafat, leader of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). So much so that in 1967, amid the Arab-Israeli war, Yugoslavia cut off diplomatic relations with Israel. Belgrade has since improved relations with Israel. Still, in 2012, Serbia was the only country in the Western Balkans to support Palestine’s bid for observer status at the UN.

In return, the Palestinian Authority (PA) has often expressed gratitude to Serbia, refusing to recognise Kosovo’s independence and rejecting comparisons between itself and Serbia’s breakaway province. In 2008, when Kosovo unilaterally declared independence, Palestinian politicians expressed frustration at the West’s support for Pristina and doubled down on their opposition to Kosovan statehood. “Kosovo is not better than us. We deserve independence even before Kosovo,” said Yasser Abed Rabbo, member of the PLO’s executive committee.

Amid the current Israel-Gaza war, and UN warnings about Israel’s violations of international humanitarian law, one would not expect Serbia to be sending large quantities of weapons to Israel. But it has been. According to customs data from Checkpoint, a portal that tracks Serbian state trade information, Serbia’s main state-owned arms trader, Yugoimport-SDPR, began sending Israel weapons following Hamas’ murderous attack on October 7, amounting to €14mn worth of arms in March alone.

The latest news of Serbian arms ending up in Sudan is therefore little surprise. The government in Belgrade has shown little concern about where its arms end up thus far. Perhaps Amnesty’s warning that the country is in violation of international law will make it think twice about where its exports end up. According to the report, states which are party to the Arms Trade Treaty, such as China and Serbia, are in violation of their legal obligations under Articles 6 and 7, “thereby undermining the legally binding framework regulating the global arms trade”.