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The Sudanese government accused the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday of providing weapons to its rival paramilitary force and prolonging the 17-month war. The UAE called the allegations “utterly false” and “baseless” and accused the government of refusing to negotiate peace with its enemy.
Their latest clash came during a U.N. Security Council meeting where its 15 members voted unanimously to extend an arms embargo in Sudan’s vast western Darfur region – a key battleground of the rival forces – until Sept. 12, 2025.
Sudan plunged into conflict in mid-April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders broke out in the capital, Khartoum, and spread to Darfur and other regions. More than 13 million people have been forced to flee their homes, the country is engulfed in a humanitarian crisis, and the head of the U.N. World Health Organization said Sunday that over 20,000 people have been killed.
Sudanese Ambassador Al-Harith Mohamed accused the UAE of providing the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, known as the RAF, with heavy weapons, missiles and ammunition – and of “profiting from this war through the illegal exploitation of gold.”
As evidence, he cited a recent weapons shipment that went through Chad to the RSF. He said Chad's recently reopened Adre border crossing for humanitarian aid was being “abused” to get weapons to the paramilitary force. He also claimed that a European bullion market has confirmed that the UAE is profiting from Sudanese gold.
The Sudanese envoy called for a new examination of arms export policies to the UAE, and called for targeted sanctions against the RSF and countries that support the paramilitary force.
The UAE’s ambassador, Mohamed Abushahab, who rushed to the council chamber to respond, called Sudan’s claims “a cynical attempt to deflect attention from the failings of the Sudanese Armed Forces", or SAF.
He accused its military of showing “zero political courage,” using starvation as a weapon of war, and refusing to heed calls to end the war and come to the negotiating table.
“To end this conflict, the SAF must take the vital step of participating in the peace talks and summon the political courage to negotiate with their enemy,” Abushahab said.
Sudan's military boycotted negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland, last month aimed at spurring humanitarian aid and starting peace talks despite international pleas that it take part. The RSF sent a delegation to Geneva.
In July, global experts said that starvation at a massive camp for displaced people in Darfur had grown into famine. And experts from the Famine Review Committee warned that about 25.6 million people — more than half of Sudan’s population — will face acute hunger.
U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood told the council that people in Darfur “live in danger and desperation and despair,” and face intense floods, restrictions on humanitarian aid, persistent human rights violations and mass displacement every day.
Adoption of the resolution extending the arms embargo in Darfur “sends an important signal to them that the international community remains focused on their plight and is committed to advancing peace and security in Sudan and the region,” Wood said.
Some countries sought but failed to have the arms embargo extended throughout Sudan.
Human Rights Watch’s Jean-Baptiste Gallopin called the council’s failure to extend sanctions “a missed opportunity” that should be corrected as soon as possible “to limit the flow of arms and curb widespread atrocities being committed in the country.”
The Security Council meeting followed last Friday’s release of the first report by U.N. backed human rights investigators who also called for the expansion of the arms embargo to the entire country and urged the creation of an “independent and impartial force” to protect civilians in Sudan’s war.
The fact-finding team, created by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, blamed both sides for war crimes including murder, mutilation and torture and warned that foreign governments which arm and finance them could be complicit. It also accused the paramilitary RSF and its allies of crimes against humanity, including rape, sexual slavery and persecution on ethnic or gender grounds.
Two decades ago, Darfur became synonymous with genocide and war crimes, particularly by the notorious Janjaweed Arab militias, against populations that identify as Central or East African. Up to 300,000 people were killed and 2.7 million were driven from their homes.
It seems that legacy has returned, with the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor Karim Khan saying in late January there are grounds to believe both sides are committing possible war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide in Darfur.
“We urgently call on states to refrain from enhancing either side’s fighting capability,” Britain’s deputy ambassador James Kariuki told the council. “Instead, those who have influence with the parties must use it to bring them to the negotiating table.”
