Sudan is in the grip of a catastrophic civil war crisis with over 13 million people facing starvation, 9 million displaced, and tens of thousands killed — making it the world’s worst humanitarian crisis after Palestine.
Global focus on Israeli atrocities in Palestine has resulted in the horrendous Sudan crisis being overlooked.
At the heart of this tragedy is the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group descended from the Janjaweed militias responsible for the Darfur genocide.
Led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the RSF rejected all attempts at disarmament and continues to commit systematic atrocities.
The group’s refusal to integrate into Sudan’s national military — a core demand of army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan during the failed 2023 democratic transition — sparked the current war. But the RSF hasn’t acted alone.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, has fueled the RSF’s campaign of terror by providing weapons, logistics, and financial support.
Concurrently UAE ties with Australia are strengthening, particularly with signing of the Australia-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement in 2024.
UAE support: A documented war pipeline
The UAE’s backing of the RSF is not conjecture — it is well-documented and damning.
A 2024 UN Security Council report revealed that the UAE sent arms “several times a week” to RSF bases in northern Chad. Satellite imagery and flight tracking confirmed at least 86 UAE cargo flights into RSF-held areas.
On the ground, Dubai-registered vehicles and UAE-branded ammunition boxes have been seized in RSF-controlled zones — undeniable evidence of direct and sustained support.
Sudan has just filed a genocide case against the UAE at the International Court of Justice, citing its role in arming the RSF and enabling genocidal violence in Darfur.
A 2024 investigation by The New York Times exposed how RSF warlords are smuggling Sudanese gold through the UAE to finance their dirty operations, with Dubai’s markets profiting from the sale of this “blood gold.”
RSF crimes: From Darfur to national collapse
The RSF evolved from the Janjaweed militias that orchestrated the Darfur genocide (2003–2008), which killed over 300,000 people and displaced 2.5 million.
Today, these same actors are carrying out ethnic cleansing, mass rapes, and village massacres — particularly in El-Geneina, West Darfur.
According to Amnesty International, “The RSF’s assaults on Sudanese women and girls are sickening, degrading, and aimed at inflicting maximum humiliation.”
These crimes are not random. They are calculated tools of terror, powered by foreign arms and illicit wealth.
Through supporting Dagalo’s RSF, the UAE is spreading moral corruption wherever this rapacious militia operates.
Since collapse of Sudan’s transitional government, the RSF launched a violent offensive against the national army authority.
Their self-declared “national government” is a façade, masking a campaign of destruction.
The UAE’s proxy agenda: Undermining the Muslim world
Sudan is not an isolated case. The UAE shows a consistent pattern of undermining democratic movements across the Muslim world.
From Libya to Yemen to Egypt, it has supported militias, strongmen, and coups over legitimate governance.
As Andreas Krieg noted in Middle East Eye (2025), the UAE is forging an “axis of secessionists,” using military proxies to expand its geopolitical and economic dominance.
He reveals that UAE’s foreign policy deliberately seeks out fragile states, support warlords over elected governments, and secures its economic interests through violence and division.
This policy delights its Abraham Accords ally, Israel, by destabilising leading Middle-Eastern Muslim states.
Through its alliance with the Russian Wagner Group, the UAE has been extracting Sudanese gold at deep discounts, enriching itself while Sudan collapses. This is not diplomacy — it is exploitation disguised as foreign policy.
US complicity: Silence for strategic gain
Despite overwhelming evidence of Emirati involvement in war crimes, the US has largely remained silent.
While a few UAE-based firms linked to RSF financing have faced sanctions, Washington has refused to hold Emirati leadership accountable.
The reason? Behind diplomatic calls for ceasefire lies a cold calculation: preserve Gulf alliances and normalization deals, even at the cost of African lives.
As journalist C J Werleman argued, this silence exposes a brutal double standard. Where strategic interests prevail, justice and human rights are expendable.
Should the world boycott Emirates and Etihad?
The question is no longer whether the UAE is complicit — it is whether the world will respond.
Given the documented evidence of UAE support for a genocidal militia:
1) Supplying arms to rapists and war criminals
2) Laundering and profiting from Sudanese “blood gold”
3) Undermining democratic transitions; and 4) Evading accountability through diplomacy —
shouldn’t the global public act?
Consumers have power. Every ticket purchased with Emirates or Etihad helps fund a regime complicit in genocide, repression, and exploitation.
A boycott of these airlines is a clear, peaceful statement: the world will not normalise atrocities, nor reward those who enable them.
A call for justice and peace
For Sudan to heal, the international community must support:
1) The immediate disarmament and dismantling of the RSF
2) The restoration of national sovereignty under a legitimate Sudanese government
3) Free and fair elections with international oversight
4) Prosecution of RSF and UAE leaders for war crimes
5) A crackdown on the illicit gold trade and sanctions against profiteers.
Sudan’s future must be determined by its people — not militias, warlords, or foreign powers.
Comments