Calls grow for ban on arms sales to UAE over role in Sudan massacres

Calls have mounted in the US and Britain for a ban on weapons exports to the United Arab Emirates over the Persian Gulf country’s military support for a militia group involved in extrajudicial killings in Sudan’s Darfur region.

The demands came after Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militants took control of the city of el-Fasher on October 26 and carried out serious human rights violations against people fleeing the North Darfur’s capital.

US Senator for Maryland Chris Van Hollen said, “As we witness horrific scenes in el-Fasher, the UAE continues arming the RSF — which the US has determined is committing genocide. Enough. We must pass my bill to block arms sales to the UAE until it stops fueling the RSF’s war crimes in Sudan.”

Similarly, US House Representative Gregory Meeks called for the passing of legislation he introduced aimed at cutting off American arms sales to the countries that back the RSF.

“This is unacceptable. My Sudan legislation would cut off US defense sales to external actors funding the conflict in Sudan. It’s also why I will continue holding all major US arms sales going to the UAE while it continues to arm the RSF. The US must do all we can to help end this devastating conflict,” he noted.

Meanwhile, British lawmaker Monica Harding described as “horrific” the possible use of UK weapons in Sudan war crimes.

“The UK must cease all arms sales to the UAE immediately until we can confirm, without a doubt, that no British weapons are going via the UAE to the RSF,” she said.

In 2023, the conflict broke out between the Sudanese army and the RSF.  It has created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, killing an estimated 150,000 people and displacing 11 million from their homes.

Reports said the UAE has been secretly providing arms to the RSF through a complex network of supply lines stretching across Libya, Chad, Uganda and breakaway regions of Somalia, a charge Abu Dhabi denied.

The UAE’s military support of the RSF is driven by a desire to extract agricultural crops and precious metals, particularly gold, from Sudan, reports added.

UAE supplied Sudan’s RSF militants with UK-made weapons: Report

A report has found that UK-made weapons and military equipment are supplied by the UAE to militants from the so-called Rapid Support Forces (RSF) amid a civil war in Sudan.

Sudan’s Ambassador to the UK Babikir Elamin denounced the UAE’s support for the RSF as “the single most important element in prolonging and enabling this genocide.”

He also called on London to “investigate” reports that its weapons and equipment were being used by the RSF to carry out “heinous atrocities.”

Meanwhile, social media users called for people to cancel trips to the UAE and boycott Emirati-based companies and products.

Some of the online users compared the UAE-backed RSF’s atrocities in Sudan to Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian journalist Hind Khoudary, currently based in Gaza, said in an X post that she had planned to visit her father’s grave in the UAE but had chosen to boycott the country.

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