UAE Arms Depots Discovered in Wad Madani, Sudan
Videos and photos circulating online reportedly show a warehouse filled with Emirati ammunition and missiles in Wad Madani, Sudan, following the Sudanese military’s recapture of the strategic city from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The footage depicts Sudanese army personnel inspecting the warehouse, which contains large boxes, and a Sudanese soldier identifies the weapons as being sourced from the UAE.
Middle East Eye reached out to the UAE’s embassy in Washington DC for a statement regarding the videos, but did not receive a response by publication time.
On Saturday, the Sudanese Armed Forces announced, along with allied groups, that they had taken control of Wad Madani, the capital of Sudan’s Al-Jazira state.
For over a year, the city had been under RSF control, with the paramilitary group currently engaged in a civil war against the Sudanese army, which has been ongoing since April 2023.
RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemeti, admitted to the loss in Wad Madani but asserted that the conflict was far from over.
“We lost Wad Madani, but we will take it back. People just need to regroup, reorganize, and reassess themselves,” he said in a statement to Al Jazeera.
The ongoing war between the Sudanese army and RSF has displaced over 11 million people, according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM), with more than eight million on the brink of famine.
On Tuesday, the U.S. government declared that a genocide was unfolding in Sudan, and it moved to impose sanctions on Hemeti and his family.
The RSF has been accused of widespread human rights violations, including sexual assault, as reported by Middle East Eye.
Both sides in the conflict have also been profiting from the war by smuggling and selling essential goods like food, fuel, and medicine.
Several foreign nations have been involved in the war, including the UAE, which has provided backing to the RSF.
Middle East Eye sources previously revealed that Emirati military support helped sustain the RSF, enabling them to keep fighting with no end in sight.
In December, Reuters reported that several flights from the UAE landed at a Chadian airstrip used to funnel weapons across the border into Sudan.
A United Nations expert panel in January 2024, citing “credible” claims, stated that the UAE was supplying military supplies through this airstrip.
While the UAE has denied supplying weapons, it maintains that it has sent humanitarian aid to Sudan.
A Western official anonymously told Middle East Eye that many U.S. officials viewed the UAE as the “enabler” of the war, though the administration was reportedly “too distracted” to take serious action against Abu Dhabi’s support.
