ROME – Representatives from Sudan’s de facto military government have vehemently denied accusations of attacking the UAE’s embassy in the capital Khartoum. According to the Sudanese government, their opposition in the civil war, the paramilitary group ‘RSF’, is being funded by the UAE, and this is the main reason for the prolongation of the country’s brutal humanitarian crisis. The UAE’s claims that the Sudanese army targeted their embassy, according to Sudan’s Ambassador to Italy, are a mere attempt to ‘cover up’ their ‘criminal’ involvement in the country.  

 Since April 2024, Sudan has been consumed in a power struggle that has already claimed the lives of 15,000 civilians. In 2021, a council of generals conducted a coup against Sudan’s president, led by two military figures. The first of these, who is currently the de facto president, was Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, from the national armed forces. The other was Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, leader of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

 However, in the last year, the two leaders began to disagree over plans for the country’s future (namely, the introduction of free elections), and since then Sudan has been in a state of civil war – one that has provoked, according to the UN, ‘the world’s worst hunger crisis’, and seen the displacement of over 10 million people from their homes. Recent reports have exposed mass sexual violence against women in RSF-controlled areas, whilst the Human Rights Watch have accused the paramilitary forces of conducting genocide against non-Arab and ethnic Masalit populations in West Darfur.

 Other international investigations have said that there are ‘credible’ allegations that the UAE is financially supporting and arming the RSF group.  For Sudan’s Ambassador to Italy, who held a conference in Rome on Oct. 31, these are less allegations and more fact. According to Amb. Sayed Altayeb Ahmed, ‘the supply of weapons from the United Arab Emirates, and the hundreds of thousands of mercenaries financed by [them], are the main reason for the continuation of the war in Sudan and the atrocities and human suffering that accompany it’.

 Amb. Ahmed held Thursday’s conference for two reasons: firstly, to make known the nature of the war and the ‘tragedies imposed by the UAE to Sudan and its people’; secondly, to refute the accusations made against them of attacking the UAE’s embassy in Khartoum.

 On Oct. 28, the UAE issued a statement denouncing a ‘heinous attack’ on their embassy in Sudan’s capital, which has allegedly experienced severe damage. They accused Sudan’s army for the incident, highlighting how targeting diplomatic seats is in violation of the Vienna Convention.

 But at Thursday’s conference Amb. Ahmed showed a series of satellite images and locally sourced footage which, he claimed, clearly indicate the culpability of the RSF for the damage to the UAE’s embassy. Time-stamped footage shows RSF personnel present in the embassy’s area, whilst another video shot at the time of the incident shows paramilitary soldiers firing missiles into the sky in a nearby open space. The Ambassador claimed it was the vibrations from this RSF exercise that shook and damaged the embassy.

 According to him, ‘these false accusations are nothing other than a miserable attempt to conceal documented international reports which expose the deliberate role of the UAE in continuing and nourishing the war in Sudan’. Seen as an attempt to portray the de facto government as lawbreakers, the Sudanese army remains adamant that the UAE is deeply invested in the success of the RSF.

 Exactly why the UAE would be interested in an RSF government is not entirely clear, but considering the fact they import 90% of their food, experts have assumed it is due to Sudan’s rich agricultural resources. Sudan is one of the largest countries in Africa, and is also known for its gold mines, many of which are now controlled by the RSF. It is reasonable to assume that a good trade deal with the country would prove highly beneficial for the UAE’s economy and food supply.

 For the current government, until the international community addresses this partnership, and recognises the ‘terrorist’ nature of the RSF, there will be no end to the conflict. ‘The inability of the international community to correctly define the Sudanese crisis as an attack against Sudan … is still one of the most significant reasons for the deterioration of the humanitarian crisis and its diffusion into neighbouring countries, and is also the first step towards the resolution of the crisis’.

Whilst the UAE continues to deny its involvement with the paramilitary, conflict rages on in Sudan, and thousands more lives are lost in the world’s most ‘forgotten war’.

 dabj