The UAE’s Role in the Sudan Crisis: Geopolitical Ambitions Amid Humanitarian Despair

Sudan is burning, engulfed in one of the most devastating conflicts in its recent history. More than eighteen months of war which started between two generals respectively backed by the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary force, have now rewritten the fate of the country. With millions displaced, thousands killed, and basic services being denied to the citizens, more than 25 million are in dire of humanitarian assistance. The inability of the international community to mediate peace has been a boon to the foreign actors benefitting from this crisis in Sudan. One of the most influential is the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which has emerged as a major player in this ongoing crisis. The participation is not motivated by altruism but instead represents a smart articulation of economic interests, military support, and regional influence.

UAE: A mediator with a hidden agenda

Sudan pulled out of the Geneva peace talks when the UAE emerged as a key mediator. With the UAE still supporting and funding the RSF, Sudan questioned the credibility of the peace talk. UAE’s desire to broker peace out of benevolence veils complex economic motivations linked with the Sudanese crisis. 

The UAE’s soft power projection was illustrated when American rapper Macklemore was invited to perform in Dubai, painting the Emirates, subtly yet clearly, as a stable and progressive country in the tormented and unstable Middle East but the plan failed as the rapper refused to perform, citing the catastrophic humanitarian crisis grappling Sudan and the UAE’s involvement. 

Economic Interests: Gold and Ports

The UAE’s intervention in Sudan is motivated by two major interests: the mining of gold and the acquisition of strategic ports. The RSF, notorious for committing war crimes and human rights abuses, has access and control over many of the mines in Sudan. According to several reports out of the total gold produced around 70% flows to the UAE, thus financing the RSF’s military operations and ensuring the group’s continuing hold over part of the fractured Sudanese state.

However, gold is not the only target for the UAE. Over the past years, it has significantly invested in Sudanese port infrastructure, partly financing the construction of a new port on the Red Sea to bypass the port run and maintained by the Sudanese government, thereby ensuring further support from RSF. Apart from giving access to a vital shipping route it also projects UAE’s influence in East Africa. This shows how intricately intertwined the economic interests of the UAE are with the ongoing crisis in Sudan.

Funding and National Interests

While UAE has always denied any sort of involvement in the Sudanese conflict and material support to RSF, UN investigators and several other credible sources accuse it smuggling arms and munitions through Chad and Ethiopia. It has been found that the UAE has provided the RSF with Chinese-made surveillance drones, smuggled through Chad, that are being used in military operations inside Sudan. These drones have, in turn, given the RSF a greater ability to attack the SAF, thus perpetuating the civil war.

There is evidence that RSF fighters are involved in the war in Yemen. The RSF is being deployed in Yemen to fulfill the interests of the UAE in the West Asian region, specifically against Iran. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia supports the Sudanese armed forces in the conflict and has aligned with the RSF to fight the Houthis in Yemen, siding with the internationally accepted government. These shifting alliances are characteristic of Middle Eastern geopolitics, which are teeming with contradictions and competing interests, leading nations to alternatively support opposing forces according to the evolving dynamics of conflicts.

Another reason for the UAE to want a prolonged Sudan may be to prevent the establishment of democracy in the country. The UAE fears the spread of an ideology that would undermine its monarchic dispensation. 

The International Community’s Silence

Despite the plentiful evidence of the UAE’s role in perpetuating the crisis in Sudan from all sides, it has barely sent any ripples across the international community, including the United Kingdom, which sponsors the Sudanese cause in the UN. The culpable silence of countries like the UK and the USA and their actions to prevent condemnation of the UAE’s alleged arming of the RSF reflect their alliance with the Emirates. While Britain has been vocal about the humanitarian crisis in Sudan in the UN, it has not commented on the role of the UAE in the crisis.

Politics and economic partnerships habitually take precedence over the purported concerns for human rights. 

Conclusion: The Human Toll of Geopolitical Ambition

As Sudan falls deeper into chaos, some foreign powers benefit. What started as a fight between two warlords in Sudan has grown into a wider regional war. For the UAE, Sudan is a gateway to East Africa. With millions forced out of their homes and lands and a vast amount of the population in dire need of humanitarian aid, Sudan lies in shatters.

This conflict will only be settled when great powers come together to uphold peace over profit. The lives and needs of the people of Sudan must take precedence over the ambitions and greed of other states and foreign corporations,

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