UAE Role In Sudan War Is ‘Criminal’

Commenting on the role of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the destruction of Sudan by funding and supporting the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Sidgi Kaballo calls a spade a spade: “I have no other word to use for the Emirates leadership except they are criminals.” The academic, economist and leading member of the Sudanese Communist Party did not mince his words. He says the UAE has an economic interest in Sudan’s wealth of resources.

The Gulf Arab country’s involvement in the exploitation of Sudan’s resources – and, by extension, Africa – is something that has been well documented over the years. A 2023 report found that Africa lost billions each year in smuggled gold, 85% of which ends up in the UAE’s market – a country with no gold mines. Evidence of the country’s role in exacerbating and escalating the current vicious cycle of war in Sudan has been presented in numerous investigative reports.

Yet the group has not been held accountable by any international bodies. For instance, a November 2024 investigative report by media outlet La Silla Vacia found that Colombian ex-soldiers fighting alongside the RSF in Sudan were being lured by promises of jobs as security guards at UAE oil sites. Another investigative report by the New York Times uncovered through satellite images how the UAE was covertly arming the RSF using the Red Crescent logo to disguise shipments as aid through the Chadian border. These are just a few examples of the UAE’s illicit activities in Sudan at the expense of the Sudanese people. Thus, there is no word to describe the UAE leadership other than ‘criminals,’ as Professor Kaballo puts it.