Sudan accused the United Arab Emirates on Sept. 11 of providing weapons to Sudan’s rival paramilitary force and prolonging the African nation’s 17-month civil war.
The UAE branded the allegations “utterly false” and “baseless” before accusing the Sudanese government of refusing to negotiate a peace deal.
Their latest clash came during a U.N. Security Council meeting where the 15 members voted unanimously to extend an arms embargo covering the rival forces’ battleground region of Darfur for another 12 months.
Civil war erupted in Sudan in mid-April 2023, when violence broke out between the government’s Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the rebel Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the capital, Khartoum.
From there, the combat quickly spread to Darfur and other regions, resulting in more than 13 million civilians being forced to flee their homes and the killing of more than 20,000 people, according to the World Health Organization.
Sudanese Ambassador to the U.N. Al-Harith Mohamed accused the UAE of providing the RSF with heavy weapons, missiles, and ammunition—and of “profiting from this war through the illegal exploitation of gold.”
He cited a recent weapons shipment through Chad to the RSF as evidence, arguing Chad’s Adre crossing on Sudan’s western border, which recently reopened to allow in humanitarian aid, was being “abused” to supply weapons to the RSF.
Mohamed also claimed that a European bullion market has confirmed the UAE is profiting from Sudanese gold.
The Sudanese envoy called for a fresh look into arms export policies to the UAE, and for targeted sanctions against the RSF and its international supporters.
The Emirati ambassador, Mohamed Abushahab, described Khartoum’s claims as “a cynical attempt to deflect attention from the failings of the Sudanese Armed Forces.”
Abushahab accused the SAF of showing “zero political courage,” weaponizing starvation, and refusing to listen to calls to end the war via negotiation.
“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 last month despite international pleas that it take part. The RSF, in contrast, sent a delegation.
In July, experts said that starvation at a displaced people’s camp in Darfur had turned into famine.
The Famine Review Committee warned that about 25.6 million people—more than half the Sudanese 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 that extending the arms embargo in the region “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.”
Some countries pushed to extend the arms embargo throughout Sudan, but were unsuccessful.
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 the release last Friday of the first report by U.N.-backed human rights investigators.
The investigators also called for the expansion of the arms embargo and the creation of an “independent and impartial force” to protect civilians in the war.
The fact-finding team, created by the Human Rights Council, accused both sides of committing war crimes, including murder, mutilation, and torture, and warned that foreign governments that arm and finance them could be complicit.
It also accused the RSF and its allies of crimes against humanity, including rape, sexual slavery, and persecution on ethnic or gender grounds.
