Greece admits Predator sale to Sudan but denies implication

A private airplane that flew from Cyprus to Sudan last year had delivered the infamous Predator surveillance software, with the Greek government admitting the export but denying any involvement in the ongoing civil war there.

Athens initially denied allegations that it had exported the Israeli-made Predator surveillance software to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces of Sudan, after reports emerged about an unregistered flight of a small Cessna plane that traveled from Cyprus to Khartoum in 2022.

But it later turned out that Athens did provide the spyware to RSF, with Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis telling a major radio station on Wednesday that “it appears that there has been an export to Sudan.”

“The license to export Predator to Sudan was given but this has nothing to with the civil war there,” Varvitsiotis said.

The comments came flowing pressure from the European Parliament’s PEGA committee that has been investigating wrongdoing in the domain of surveillance, where Cyprus and Greece along with other countries have been suspected of illegal exports to third countries that may have bought the program for their governments to spy on domestic targets.

A dispute has been taking place in Sudan in the last few months between rivals who disagree on military and security reform, while Khartoum has been in a state of emergency since late 2021.

Media sources said the plane had flown from Cyprus to the Sudanese capital for 45 minutes while the passenger list and cargo remained a secret, prompting speculation that Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, Sudan’s richest man who owns a private army, was involved in the incident.