{"id":56986,"date":"2025-11-09T18:22:30","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T15:22:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/?p=56986"},"modified":"2025-11-09T18:22:30","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T15:22:30","slug":"how-the-uae-is-entangled-in-sudans-civil-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/09\/how-the-uae-is-entangled-in-sudans-civil-war\/","title":{"rendered":"How the UAE Is Entangled in Sudan\u2019s Civil War"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sudan Events – Agencies<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite denials, mounting evidence points to gold and arms deals fueling Sudan\u2019s bloody conflict<\/p>\n

The first clues surfaced at a remote checkpoint in North Darfur last April, when Sudanese army troops stopped a convoy and began unloading boxes of ammunition. One of the crates bore Cyrillic letters\u2014an unusual sight in a region where few can read them.<\/p>\n

Inside were mortar shells with serial numbers that would later lead UN investigators to a Bulgarian arms factory\u2014and then to the United Arab Emirates, which had purchased the munitions five years earlier.<\/p>\n

It was the clearest sign yet of what had long been suspected: Sudan\u2019s civil war\u2014the struggle between the national army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)\u2014has become a proxy battlefield for competing regional powers.<\/p>\n

Hemedti\u2019s Empire: Gold, Guns, and Foreign Patrons<\/strong><\/p>\n

The RSF evolved from the notorious Janjaweed militias, responsible for atrocities against African civilians in Darfur two decades ago. Today it stands as one of Africa\u2019s most powerful irregular forces, sustained by a steady flow of weapons from abroad.<\/p>\n

Its commander, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo\u2014better known as Hemedti\u2014has turned this force into a personal empire built on gold, arms, and foreign alliances. Increasingly, evidence links his military might to Gulf states\u2014particularly the UAE.<\/p>\n

Emerging Evidence, Persistent Denials<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cU.S. intelligence and UN investigators have gathered strong evidence implicating the UAE in weapons transfers to Sudan,\u201d said Michael Jones, a researcher at the U.K.-based Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).<\/p>\n

According to him, a web of intermediaries operating through Libya, Uganda, the Central African Republic, and Chad has helped channel everything from drones and heavy artillery to ammunition into RSF hands.<\/p>\n

The UAE, however, consistently denies any involvement. Presidential adviser Anwar Gargash recently called for a ceasefire, insisting that his country supports a civilian-led transition in Sudan.<\/p>\n

But UN investigators describe a recurring pattern: shipping documents that don\u2019t match cargo contents, ammunition with serial numbers tracing back to Emirati stockpiles, and RSF commanders boasting of foreign support.<\/p>\n

A leaked UN report documented \u201cseveral cargo flights\u201d from the UAE that disguised their destinations to reach airfields in Chad\u2014a key gateway into western Sudan. The UAE maintains that these flights were purely humanitarian.<\/p>\n

Darfur\u2019s Gold: The Hidden Fuel of War<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sudan is Africa\u2019s third-largest gold producer, and the RSF controls most of Darfur\u2019s mines. The gold is smuggled through Chad and the Central African Republic into Dubai, where it enters Emirati markets and vanishes from sight.<\/p>\n

This gold finances arms purchases and fighter salaries\u2014offering Hemedti\u2019s backers both influence and profit.<\/p>\n

A Multi-Layered Proxy War<\/strong><\/p>\n

The UAE is not the only actor in this deadly network. Egypt and Saudi Arabia support the Sudanese army. Iran provides drones and missiles. Turkey sells military equipment to both sides. Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar offers the RSF safe passage and rear bases in eastern Libya.<\/p>\n

As the war drags on, civilians remain trapped under siege, and hunger spreads across Darfur and Kordofan.<\/p>\n

El-Fasher: A Massacre Before the World\u2019s Eyes<\/strong><\/p>\n

The fall of El-Fasher on October 27, after an 18-month siege, exposed the scale of foreign weaponry sustaining the conflict. Survivors recounted stories of mass rape, abductions, and massacres so extensive that satellite images showed the bloodstained earth.<\/p>\n

Global Pressure\u2014Muted but Real<\/strong><\/p>\n

Western diplomats acknowledge that private messages have been sent to the UAE, while human rights groups call for a formal investigation. Even in Washington\u2014one of Abu Dhabi\u2019s closest allies\u2014officials admit that the evidence is becoming too difficult to dismiss.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe RSF can sustain its fight for a long time thanks to its current backing,\u201d notes Chatham House. Sudan\u2019s war is no longer an internal struggle\u2014it is a conflict powered by regional interests, gold money, and a silence that deepens civilian suffering.<\/p>\n

For the sake of those civilians, the paper concludes, the flow of gold and weapons must stop\u2014long before the shooting does.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sudan Events – Agencies Despite denials, mounting evidence points to gold and arms deals fueling Sudan\u2019s bloody conflict The first clues surfaced at a remote checkpoint in North Darfur last April, when Sudanese army troops stopped a convoy and began unloading boxes of ammunition. One of the crates bore Cyrillic letters\u2014an unusual sight in a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55961,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56986"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56986\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56987,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56986\/revisions\/56987"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}