UAE Faces Growing Pressure to Halt Arms Sales to Sudan's RSF Militia

Strategic Insights -

After a week of horrific atrocities in Darfur, the United Arab Emirates is facing mounting political pressure to halt its arms sales to the Sudanese militia responsible for the massacres. The RSF, led by the Rapid Support Forces, has videotaped its own massacres of civilians, including hospital patients and fleeing refugees, in close-range executions. Independent researchers estimate that at least 3,000 people were killed in the first four days after the RSF captured El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur.

Key Takeaways:

  • The UAE has repeatedly denied supplying weapons to the RSF, but a growing number of politicians, humanitarian agencies, expert analysts, and human-rights groups have identified the Gulf country as the main supplier of weapons and money to the powerful militia.
  • A bipartisan group of US senators, including Jim Risch and Jeanne Shaheen, issued a statement citing the UAE as one of the foreign backers that have "fuelled and profited from the conflict and legitimized the monsters destroying Sudan."
  • The UAE is heavily reliant on Western arms and has sought to polish its global image with high-profile sporting events and concerts.
  • The US has sold billions of dollars in weapons to the Emirates in recent years, making it vulnerable to international pressure.
  • Some US lawmakers, including Chris Murphy and Gregory Meeks, are vowing to block any US arms sales to the UAE if it continues to support the RSF.
  • The UAE is a key sponsor of the Tour de France, National Basketball Association tournaments, music concerts, and other sports and cultural events, which can be used as leverage to puncture its public image.
  • Refugees International has called for the NBA to suspend its partnership with the UAE, and other civil-society groups have urged Canada to halt any arms exports to the UAE that could be shipped onward to the RSF.

Statistics:

  • At least 3,000 people were killed in the first four days after the RSF captured El Fasher.
  • The Sudan war has triggered famine and forced 12 million people to flee from the fighting between the RSF and the Sudanese army.
  • The UAE has issued 12 export permits for a total of $7-million in military-related exports to the UAE last year.
  • The US has sold billions of dollars in weapons to the Emirates in recent years.

Sources:

  • The Sudan War Monitor
  • Senators Jim Risch and Jeanne Shaheen
  • Refugees International
  • The Globe and Mail
  • Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East
  • Government of Canada (export permits and federal government report)
  • U.S. Department of State (arms sales to the UAE)
  • Streit Group (armoured vehicles deployed by the RSF in El Fasher)