US Moves to Block Arms Sales to UAE Over Sudan Conflict

The US Senate is considering a draft resolution that would suspend arms sales to the UAE due to its backing of the Rapid Support Forces militia and its role in prolonging the civil war in Sudan for over a year and a half.

Reuters reports that US Senator Chris Van Hollen has proposed the resolution, calling for a halt to US arms sales to the UAE until the US government can confirm that Abu Dhabi is not providing support to the RSF in Sudan.

Van Hollen’s draft resolution is being introduced in the Senate, while his Democratic colleague Sarah Jacobs has presented a similar proposal in the House of Representatives. However, both initiatives are expected to face significant opposition in Congress.

Despite this, US administrations from both major parties have long viewed the UAE as a key security partner in the Middle East, which complicates the situation, given the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Sudan.

“The UAE is an important partner, but the United States cannot remain passive while it contributes to the humanitarian disaster in Sudan. We must leverage our influence to work toward a peaceful resolution,” Van Hollen stated.

Under US law, Congress must review major arms deals, with senators able to push for a vote on resolutions that could block such sales. Though House members cannot directly force such votes, both chambers of Congress must approve the resolution, and it must survive a potential presidential veto to take effect.

The draft resolution also brings to light the UAE’s active and aggressive involvement in supporting and supplying outlaw militias, advancing Abu Dhabi’s agenda of expanding influence in the region.

At a time when the fighting in Sudan shows no signs of ceasing, the UAE has emerged as the most invested foreign actor in the civil war. Despite efforts to initiate peace talks, foreign intervention, including the UAE’s, has only prolonged the conflict, making peace seem increasingly elusive.

In just over a year of civil war, Sudan has become one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises. Once Africa’s largest agricultural producer and a potential breadbasket for the region, the country now teeters on the edge of the worst famine in the world.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reports that over 7 million people have been displaced within Sudan, nearly 2 million have sought refuge in neighboring countries, and 25 million people—half the country’s population—are in desperate need of humanitarian aid. Since the conflict erupted in April 2023, an estimated 20,000 people have lost their lives.

Regional powers and neighboring nations have aligned themselves with one of the two generals at the center of the conflict: Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of the Sudanese Armed Forces, and Mohamed “Hemeti” Dagalo, leader of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. Both sides have been accused by the United Nations of committing war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity.

Sudan’s proximity to major arms-trafficking hubs has exacerbated the situation, with weapons and ammunition flowing through countries like Libya, Chad, and the Central African Republic. The UAE is believed to be supplying arms to the conflict through these routes, in violation of the UN arms embargo on Sudan.

The UAE has emerged as the most invested foreign player in Sudan’s ongoing civil war, seeing the resource-rich, strategically located country as a vital opportunity to expand its influence in both the Middle East and East Africa.

Since 2018, the UAE has committed over $6 billion in investments in Sudan, including foreign reserves held in the Sudanese central bank, agricultural ventures, and a key port on the Red Sea. Beyond financial investments, the UAE has also recruited fighters, particularly from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), to participate in the conflict in Yemen, further entrenching its military and paramilitary ties in the region.

Since the 2019 ouster of Sudan’s longtime President Omar al-Bashir, the UAE has worked to undermine Sudan’s transition to democracy, backing military and paramilitary factions over the civilian government. As the civil war erupted, Abu Dhabi focused on supporting the RSF, a paramilitary group led by Mohamed “Hemeti” Dagalo.

While the UAE has repeatedly denied supplying weapons to the RSF or supporting Hemeti, mounting evidence points to their involvement, making the UAE’s role in the war an “open secret.” The UAE’s actions gained further international scrutiny when American rapper Macklemore canceled an October 2024 concert in Dubai, citing the country’s role in the ongoing genocide and humanitarian crisis in Sudan.

The UAE’s actions in Sudan are part of a broader foreign policy strategy that has seen it ally with local powers to secure both geopolitical and economic interests across the Middle East and East Africa. In Sudan, the UAE has forged a partnership with Russia, particularly through the Wagner Group, which has been active in Sudan since 2017. The Wagner Group has primarily been involved in resource extraction projects in areas like Darfur, where Hemeti’s forces have long held influence.

According to UN experts, the UAE has established a logistics network to supply weapons to the RSF via Libya, Chad, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, and Uganda, with these shipments often disguised as humanitarian aid to evade international scrutiny and sanctions.

The complex and opaque geopolitical dynamics between the UAE and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) illustrate the intricacies of Sudan’s current conflict and the broader interests at play. Mohamed “Hemedti” Dagalo, the RSF leader, is widely reported to act as a protector of Emirati interests in Sudan, particularly in sectors like gold and agriculture.

Gold has emerged as a key factor driving the Sudanese conflict, providing a vital source of funding for both sides of the war. The UAE is the main beneficiary of this trade, with the vast majority of Sudanese gold being smuggled into the UAE. It has become a central hub for laundering this smuggled gold, which is then funneled into the global market. In 2022, the UAE officially imported approximately $2.3 billion worth of precious metals from Sudan, underscoring its significant role in this illicit trade.

In addition to its involvement in the gold trade, the UAE has strategic interests in Sudan’s agricultural sector. With 90% of its food imports coming from abroad, the UAE has made food security a national priority, particularly since the global food crisis of 2007. In pursuit of this goal, two Emirati companies have acquired over 50,000 hectares of agricultural land in northern Sudan, with plans to expand further. The agricultural products from these farms are exported across the Red Sea to the UAE.

In an effort to bypass Sudan’s government-controlled Port Sudan, the UAE took a further step in 2022 by signing a deal to construct a new port on Sudan’s coast, which will be managed by Abu Dhabi Ports Group. This move underscores the UAE’s determination to secure its economic and food security interests in the region.

Through its alliance with the RSF, the UAE has effectively leveraged the militia to further its economic ambitions, particularly in securing resources like gold and agricultural products, which are critical to both its domestic needs and its broader regional influence.