UAE’s IMI takes full control of Sky News Arabia amid scrutiny over Sudan coverage

British broadcaster Sky Group has ended its joint ownership of Sky News Arabia and handed control of the channel to UAE-based International Media Investments (IMI), as scrutiny intensifies over its coverage of Sudan’s war and its reporting on violence attributed to the so-called Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The agreement took effect on Sunday, placing Sky News Arabia fully under IMI ownership while the channel retains the Sky brand.

Neither Sky Group nor IMI issued further comment beyond their joint statement announcing the transfer of ownership.

IMI is based in Abu Dhabi and is owned by UAE Vice President Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Launched in 2012, Sky News Arabia was designed to compete with broadcasters such as Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya.

Over time, however, it has faced sustained criticism over editorial independence and its framing of the war in Sudan.

Former Sky executives have said the channel has functioned in alignment with the political narrative of the UAE leadership.

They state that its coverage has repeatedly downplayed or dismissed well-documented accounts of serious violations carried out by the RSF.

The UAE denies providing support to the RSF. However, multiple investigations by international organizations, researchers, and monitoring groups document extensive financial, military, and logistical backing from the UAE to the militant group during the conflict.

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Sudan’s government banned Sky News Arabia from operating in the country in November after the channel broadcast a report from El Fasher in North Darfur describing conditions in the city as stabilizing despite continuing reports of mass violence, displacement, and destruction linked to RSF operations against civilians.

A report published by The Guardian in May 2026 states that senior Sky executives grew increasingly concerned about the channel’s editorial approach to Sudan.

The report also notes that Sky News Arabia aired content questioning established findings on genocide and war crimes documented by international investigators, humanitarian organizations, and survivor testimonies.

In February, a United Nations-mandated fact-finding mission concluded that RSF operations and those of allied militias in Sudan bore the “hallmarks of genocide.”

Following the UN findings, Sky News Arabia sent reporter Tsabih Mubarak Khatir to El Fasher.

Khatir, who is married to a senior RSF official, was filmed embracing a female RSF commander and telling her, “We are with you.”

The commander has been documented in public statements urging militants to commit sexual violence against Darfuri women, further intensifying criticism of the network’s editorial decisions.

In March, a major study by Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab in partnership with NASA’s Harvest program concluded that the RSF carried out a deliberate campaign of starvation against civilians in and around El Fasher.

The study documented the destruction of dozens of farming villages and severe disruption of agricultural production across the region.

Sudan’s war began in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), the internationally recognized government military, and the UAE-supported RSF.

The conflict has triggered one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises. International scrutiny has increasingly focused on the UAE, with researchers, monitoring bodies, and investigative reports documenting sustained support to the RSF despite extensive evidence linking the group to mass killings, ethnic violence, forced displacement, and widespread violations of international law.

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