The Guardian: The UAE is the Biggest Player in Fueling the Civil War in Sudan

The British newspaper The Guardian reported that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is the primary force behind the ongoing civil war in Sudan, which began in April 2023 and is nearing its second year.

The article highlights that a war of such intensity in a poor country like Sudan cannot be sustained solely with weapons and resources from local players.

The report stresses, “Conflicts in such countries persist because external actors fund them, while others ignore it. The UAE is the largest player in the Sudan conflict.”

The paper explains that the UAE has a pattern of acting as a “kingmaker” in African wars, betting that if its chosen partner succeeds, Abu Dhabi will gain access to vast resources and geopolitical power.

To achieve this, the UAE provides the Rapid Support Forces with advanced weaponry, drones, and even medical supplies for their fighters. The country has also become the top destination for “blood gold,” smuggled by both the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces in exchange for arms and money.

According to The Guardian, the UAE effectively ensures the financial resources to fuel the conflict, benefiting from discounted prices for gold that has reached record levels.

Meanwhile, the most profitable assets from the Sudanese people are extracted and flown to the Middle East, where they are exchanged for weapons, leaving Sudanese civilians starving.

Despite its extensive role, the UAE has been publicly embraced by the current U.S. administration, which did not issue a statement confirming that it had stopped supplying weapons to the Rapid Support Forces until sustained media attention, pressure from Sudanese activists, and scrutiny in the Senate forced it to take action.

This was accompanied by an American statement that the UAE “has been a humanitarian contributor throughout the war.” However, it is likely that imposing sanctions on the group’s leader, instead of its sponsor, would have little effect on forcing the UAE to cut ties with the Rapid Support Forces, a relationship it has heavily invested in with no consequences so far.

Since the catastrophic conflict between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces, which were previously partners in power, the country has rapidly disintegrated, and overlapping crises have worsened.

Millions have been displaced, both internally and externally. Famine is affecting hundreds of thousands. Sexual violence is widespread, according to the United Nations.

In some areas, where Rapid Support Forces soldiers are reportedly raping women and girls, some victims have committed suicide, and others are contemplating suicide proactively. In part of Al-Jazeera state, one young woman reported that when she heard the Rapid Support Forces were coming, she and her female relatives made a suicide pact.

The Rapid Support Forces originated in western Sudan, formed from the remnants of official Arab militias that brutally suppressed marginalized African tribes in the early 2000s. They partnered with the government to quell rebellions from those tribes.

Now, the group is repeating the ethnic violence that the International Criminal Court once declared to be genocide: targeting non-Arab communities, killing thousands, burning their infrastructure, and forcing survivors into Chad, preventing their return.

The U.S. has imposed sanctions on the leader of the Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemetti), for his crimes over recent months.

The U.S. has also sanctioned UAE-owned companies that supply weapons to the Rapid Support Forces, and officially declared genocide.

The Guardian views these measures as positive, recognizing the crimes committed and limiting the Rapid Support Forces’ ability to whitewash its record. However, the newspaper notes that such steps are symptoms of a longstanding approach by foreign powers towards Sudan, which is based on superficial gestures rather than meaningful action to save lives.

The article warns that the conflict in Sudan, already challenging in its own right, takes place against a global backdrop of intertwined crises. The fatigue from endless bloodshed and conflict across Europe and the Middle East has made Sudan’s plight just another disaster, with death, hunger, and impunity becoming the norm.