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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Sport
Karim Zidan

As Sudan burns, the NBA’s embrace of the UAE shows how sport enables atrocity

NBA UAE Sudan Emirates Gulf RSF Abu Dhabi Bayern
VJ Edgecombe of the Philadelphia 76ers runs out of the tunnel before his team’s game against the New York Knicks in Abu Dhabi in October.
VJ Edgecombe of the Philadelphia 76ers runs out of the tunnel before his team’s game against the New York Knicks in Abu Dhabi in October. Photograph: Jesse D Garrabrant/NBAE/Getty Images

As paramilitary fighters from the brutal Rapid Support Forces (RSF) overran the largest city in western Sudan – carrying out mass executions, rapes and ethnic cleansing with weapons supplied by the United Arab Emirates – the NBA’s annual in-season tournament, the Emirates NBA Cup, tipped off on Halloween night, proudly sponsored by the very same Gulf state.

The tournament is the most visible example of the NBA’s expanding partnership with the UAE – a partnership that includes annual preseason games in Abu Dhabi, a lucrative sponsorship deal with Emirates airlines, and plans for a new NBA Global Academy at NYU’s Abu Dhabi campus.

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