Sudan accuses the United Arab Emirates of fueling the war with weapons to benefit its paramilitary rivals. UAE calls claim 'ridiculous'

UNITED NATIONS — Sudan's government accused the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday of fueling the African country's 14-month war by supplying weapons to a rival paramilitary force. The UAE rejected the allegation as “ridiculous,” calling it “a shameful abuse by one of the warring parties.”

The clash took place during a meeting of the UN Security Council in which Deputy Secretary-General Martha Pobee warned that atrocities were being committed along ethnic lines in the Darfur region. western Sudan.

She called for an immediate ceasefire in the North Darfur capital El Fasher, besieged by rapid support paramilitary forces, “to prevent further atrocities, protect critical infrastructure and alleviate the suffering of civilians.”

Sudanese Ambassador Al-Harith Mohamed accused the rapid support paramilitary forces of “destructively launching” their war against the Sudanese army and attacking civilians, with the help of weapons from the Arab Emirates United.

He said Sudan had evidence of the UAE supplying weapons and that the government would submit a dossier on the UAE's actions to the International Criminal Court.

UAE Ambassador Mohamed Abushahab said these were “false allegations” and questioned why the Sudanese government is refusing to resume peace talks.

Turning to the Sudanese ambassador seated next to him at the horseshoe-shaped Security Council table, Abushahab said: “You should stop grandstanding in international forums like this and instead take responsibility the responsibility to end the conflict you started. »

UN experts monitoring the Darfur arms embargo reported “credible” evidence in January that the UAE was sending weapons to the Rapid Support Forces several times a week from northern Chad. US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield on Tuesday reiterated an American call to all “external actors to stop fueling and prolonging this conflict, and enabling these atrocities, by sending weapons to Sudan.”

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Sudan's Mohamed urged the council to “go the extra mile by singling out and shaming the UAE.”

Edem Wosornu, director of operations at the UN humanitarian office, told the Council that the lives of 800,000 civilians trapped in El Fasher “are at stake”, echoing the risk of mass atrocities and warning that violence in the encircled city “is only the tip of the risk”. of the iceberg.

She said indiscriminate bombing is affecting millions of people in Darfur, sexual violence remains endemic and “starvation is imminent.” Nearly 5 million people face emergency levels of food insecurity and more than 2 million in 41 “hunger hotspots are at high risk of falling into catastrophic famine in the coming weeks,” it said. Wosornu.

Twenty years ago, Darfur became synonymous with genocide and war crimes, particularly committed by Arab Janjaweed militias, against populations who identify as Central or East African. Up to 300,000 people were killed and 2.7 million driven from their homes.

Sudan plunged back into conflict in mid-April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders erupted in the capital, Khartoum, and spread to other regions, including Darfur. According to the UN, more than 14,000 people were killed and 33,000 injured.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces were formed from Janjaweed fighters by Sudan's then-President Omar al-Bashir, who ruled the country for three decades before being toppled in a popular uprising in 2019. He is wanted by the International Criminal Court for genocide and other charges. crimes committed during the conflict in Darfur in the 2000s.

Last Thursday, the Security Council adopted a resolution demanding that the Rapid Support Forces immediately end the siege of El Fasher, the only capital in Darfur that they do not control. The council also urged paramilitary forces and the Sudanese army “to seek an immediate cessation of hostilities.”