Washington Post: UAE Fuels Devastating Civil War in Sudan

The American newspaper Washington Post stated that the UAE is fueling the devastating civil war in Sudan by providing secret arms supplies to the rebel Rapid Support Forces militias.

The newspaper’s claim regarding the UAE’s aggressive involvement in Sudan is supported by secret assessments, a report funded by the U.S. State Department, and evidence gathered from weapons recovered in Sudan.

Recently, Sudanese military officials in Omdurman permitted journalists from the Washington Post to examine a drone that they stated was captured from the competing Rapid Support Forces, along with ammunition designated for the aircraft.

The officials presented photos of the confiscated boxes, including one that indicated the munitions were manufactured in Serbia and sent to the Joint Logistics Command of the UAE Armed Forces.

This evidence corresponds with the findings of the “Sudanese Conflict Observatory,” a group funded by the U.S. State Department that has monitored Emirati flights.

The observatory indicated that it monitored 32 flights between June 2023 and May 2024, determining “with a near-certain degree of confidence” that these were shipments of weapons from the UAE to the Rapid Support Forces.

These arms shipments from the UAE follow earlier revelations, including a report from the New York Times regarding the UAE’s support for the Rapid Support Forces via a military base in neighboring Chad.

Nonetheless, some details about the frequency, patterns, and nature of the flights from the UAE have not been made public before.

The civil war in Sudan broke out in April 2023 after months of rising tensions between the army and the Rapid Support Forces, which had been sharing power in the country. Since then, around one-fifth of the population has been displaced, and hunger now threatens the nation significantly.

Peace talks facilitated by the United States have stalled, while several countries in the region have provided military support to the warring parties, increasing the likelihood of the conflict spreading beyond Sudan’s borders and destabilizing neighboring countries.

In light of these developments, the UAE’s involvement in Sudan stems from strategic concerns related to Sudan’s location on the Red Sea, a vital corridor for approximately 12% of global shipping traffic.

Sudan’s strategic position along the Red Sea is a major factor fueling the growing interest from nations like the UAE, Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Russia.

As noted by Alexander Rondos, a senior advisor at the Africa Center of the U.S. Institute of Peace, “the Horn of Africa has turned into a theater for rival Gulf interests that are financing and arming local proxies,” further stating, “whoever dominates Sudan holds power over the Red Sea.”

The UAE’s interests in Sudan, as noted by diplomats and regional analysts, are linked to concerns about shipping corridors in the Red Sea, which are vital for the trade of Emirati ports.

Moreover, the UAE has significant interests in Sudan’s gold and agriculture sectors, and it maintains longstanding ties with the commander of the Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Hemeti.

At the same time that Emirati diplomats denied these accusations, two Western diplomats, who refused to reveal their identities, described the Emirati denial of arming the Rapid Support Forces as absurd and comical.

According to a report by the Sudan Conflict Observatory, Emirati flights consistently landed at Amjaras Airport in northeastern Chad, close to the lengthy and porous border with Sudan. The UAE asserts that the base in Amjaras serves as a hospital for wounded civilians, even though it is hours away from the Sudanese refugee camps.

The report noted that some of the planes used for these flights had prior connections to arms trafficking operations.

Justin Lynch, an advisor at the observatory, stated, “There is no reasonable explanation for these air bridges other than arms support for the Rapid Support Forces; no one is deceived.”

In an interview with the Washington Post, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces, blamed both Chad and the UAE for the ongoing conflict. He stated, “We want to end this war, but we need the UAE to stop supporting the Rapid Support Forces.”

Sudanese military officials stated that the aircraft was loaded with 120mm munitions. They also mentioned that the army had confiscated around 300 boxes of this ammunition and permitted journalists to examine a portion of it.

Although the munitions bore no markings indicating their place of manufacture, other information on the ammunition matched that found in photos of a seized box, which was labeled as having been produced by the Serbian company “Yugoimport” and supplied to the Joint Logistics Command of the UAE Armed Forces.

Jonah Lev, the executive director of Conflict Armament Research in the UK, noted after reviewing the images of the boxes that the markings matched those used by Serbian manufacturers.