Washington, DC., 18 November 2025—
On 15 April 2023, Sudan was plunged into violent conflict between the country’s regular armed forces, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The conflict has its roots in the 2018 uprising that ousted a war criminal president, Omar al-Bashir. That ousting was supposed to create a transition to democracy. However, regional powers did not want to see such a transition. Some of Sudan’s neighbors backed the Sudanese military, and others, like the UAE, backed the RSF in Sudan. But to what end?
Sudan lies along the Red Sea and is of strategic interest to Gulf powers. Some analysts see the UAE’s desire to secure a port in Sudan as part of a broader pattern of UAE extraterritorial engagement. By supporting an influential actor like the RSF, the Emirati government may hope to gain leverage or influence in Sudan’s future political order. It is not the first time that the UAE has intervened or backed actors in other regional conflicts. It used the RSF (formerly the Janjaweed) to fight in Yemen.
Intelligence Findings
US intelligence agencies say that the Emirati government provided weapons, ammunition, and logistical support to the Rapid Support Forces in 2025, including air routes and transit hubs through neighboring states such as Chad, facilitating arms shipments into Sudan. Similar intelligence provided by Libyan, Egyptian, and European officials lists sophisticated Chinese drones, small arms, heavy machine guns, vehicles, artillery, and mortars were being supplied to the RSF by the UAE. We know with certainty that British and Chinese military equipment that was sold to the UAE has been found in Sudan and was used by RSF forces.
A UN expert report confirmed credible evidence that the UAE supplied weapons to the RSF multiple times per week via Amdjarass International Airport in northern Chad. Further, the UAE is complicit in the RSF’s economic base. The RSF controls or influences Darfur and other regions where gold mining and other extractive activities occur. The United Arab Emirates has been a center for gold trading and has imported precious metals from Sudan. One analysis noted that nearly US$2.3 billion worth of Sudanese precious metals were officially imported via the UAE in 2022.
The ICJ: Sudan v. UAE
In March 2025, Sudan’s Security and Defense Council filed a case at the UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) declaring the UAE an “aggressor state” and engaged in what Sudan terms a “genocidal campaign” in Darfur. The Sudanese government accused the UAE of breaching the 1948 Genocide Convention by supplying advanced weapons to the RSF and targeting Sudan’s infrastructure, and severed diplomatic relations with the UAE. However, in May 2025, the ICJ determined that it lacked jurisdiction in this case because the UAE had entered a reservation when acceding to the Genocide Convention, limiting the court’s jurisdiction under Article IX.
Transparency and Accountability
The RSF’s actions in Darfur, especially in El-Fasher, include mass killings, forced displacement, sexual violence, and ethnic cleansing, and may amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Under the doctrines of assistance and complicity, a state backing such crimes carries a high moral and legal risk and raises questions about accountability.
The situation in Sudan is the absence of any international order or system. It illustrates how external actors backing local armed groups can prolong conflicts, complicate peace efforts, and heighten civilian suffering. It underscores the need for transparency and robust international oversight of arms transfers, logistics, and mercenary networks. But beyond the legal questions, the core issue remains: the devastating human toll. The involvement of outside actors raises the cost of war for civilians. For the UAE, it may think it is insulated from attribution; however, the allegations carry reputational risks, potential sanctions, and diplomatic fallout. For Sudan, the war and foreign intervention hinder pathways to peace, reconstruction, and stability. In a normal system, the international community would come in and say, “Stop arming people in this war.”
How Much Is Enough?
The most disturbing aspect of the situation is that before the UAE became involved, the Sudanese military was winning. The UAE re-escalated the war with its support to the RSF when it looked like it was over. The fact is, if the RSF were cut off, it could not sustain itself. The war would be over today.
While country leaders and the global community are praising the UAE for being a peacemaker because of the Abraham Accords, it should consider that the UAE is also weaponizing, funding, and contributing to the atrocities being committed in Sudan, including genocide. Is a direct flight between Dubai and Tel Aviv more valuable than human lives in Sudan or Gaza?
My question to Yousef Al Otaiba, the UAE Ambassador to the US, is why is your country feeding weapons into the largest humanitarian disaster on earth? Why are you complicit in genocide in Sudan? Considering the wealth of the UAE, how much does it really need that it would destroy a country and be the cause of immense human suffering and death? Is a port deal or raw materials worth condemning Sudan to a perpetual state of war? Your country is sitting on trillions of dollars; how much is enough?
Whether or not the UAE will ever be held legally accountable, or whether the allegations will become fully substantiated in the public record, remains to be seen. Meanwhile, the human cost in Sudan continues to mount.
Photo credit: United Arab Emirates Pavilion by Wojtek Gurak. Licensed under CC BY NC ND 2.0.
Lara Kajs is the founder and executive director of The Genocide Report, an NGO nonprofit organization in Washington, DC. She is the author of Beyond the Veil: Afghan Women and Girls’ Journey to Freedom (forthcoming), Assad’s Syria, and Stories from Yemen: A Diary from the Field, available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple Books, and independent bookstores worldwide. Distributed by Ingram. Ms. Kajs frequently speaks about atrocity crimes, forced displacement, and International Humanitarian Law (IHL). Follow and connect with Lara Kajs on Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, and Bluesky.