Britain blocks critics of UAE arms deliveries to Sudan war

July 5, 2024

Exclusive: Britain is accused of trying to avoid conviction of its Gulf ally for allegedly aiding forces accused of genocide in Darfur.

The aftermath of an attack on Abu Shouk camp near El Fasher last month that left more than 100 people dead. Photo: Darfur Network for Human Rights

British government officials tried to criticise the United Arab Emirates Sources told the Guardian that it allegedly played a role in supplying weapons to a notorious militia conducting an ethnic cleansing campaign in Sudan.

Allegations that British Foreign Office officials put pressure on African diplomats not to criticise the United Arab Emirates over its alleged military support for Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) will further scrutinise Britain’s relations with the Gulf state.

The RSF, a paramilitary group accused by human rights groups of committing crimes against humanity, is Siege of the city of El Fasher in Darfur, a vast region in western Sudan.

Fighters have surrounded the city and there are indications that they Attacks on and murder of civilians based on their ethnicity. The siege has led to warnings that if El Fasher falls, there will be a massacre on a large scale and possibly genocide.

Yonah Diamondan international human rights lawyer, said that during informal talks in Ethiopia earlier this month – where the possibility of legal action against the UAE over its alleged role in the fighting was explored – sources told him that Britain was actively discouraging some states from condemning the Emirates.

This led to accusations among diplomats that Britain had prioritised its relations with the United Arab Emirates over the fate of civilians trapped in El Fasher, home to 1.8 million people.

He said: “We wanted to gain support for a mechanism to protect civilians (in Darfur) and for steps to hold the UAE accountable before the International Court of Justice or elsewhere in the region.”

Diamond, who led an independent investigation that found “clear and convincing evidence” the RSF committed genocide in Darfur, said: “We have been following the implications of these findings, violations of the (UN) Genocide Convention and the need for States to fulfil their obligations.”

The United Arab Emirates’ Ambassador to the United Nations, Mohamed Abushahab, at a Security Council meeting this week, as Sudan accused the United Arab Emirates of supporting the RSF militia. Photo: Eduardo Muñoz/Reuters

However Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) strongly denied the allegations. A spokesman said: “These allegations are categorically untrue. The UK is using its diplomatic influence to support efforts to achieve lasting peace.”

The role of the United Arab Emirates in the brutal civil war in Sudan between the RSF and the Sudanese armed forces, which has been going on for 14 months, is hotly debated.

The United Arab Emirates has repeatedly denied any involvement in providing military support to any of the warring parties in Sudan.

On Tuesday, the Sudanese army and the United Arab Emirates Clashes broke out in the UN Security Council The latter dismissed the claim that he was supplying RSF as “ridiculous”.

However, UN sanctions monitors described the allegations that the UAE had provided military support to the RSF as “credible”.

Last week, the Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) at Yale University revealed Images of a cargo plane flying over RSF territory near El Fasher. The aircraft matches a type of plane seen in locations in neighboring Chad where deadly aid was allegedly delivered to the RSF.

The findings raise questions about a possible supply of weapons to the RSF by the Gulf state, although it is not known who was piloting the Ilyushin IL-76 aircraft.

Nathaniel Raymond, executive director of the HRL, said: “The incident must be investigated by the UN Security Council, which can ask the UAE whether it was involved.”

In response to the allegations, FCDO officials also referred to a UN Security Council resolution from last Thursday in which they RSF in Sudan calls for “end siege” in El Fasher, the last town in western Darfur not controlled by the RSF.

The resolution calls on all member states to “refrain from external interference aimed at fuelling conflict and instability” and to respect the arms embargo against Darfur.

However, critics say the text should have explicitly referred to the United Arab Emirates and Iran. Iran is accused of supporting the opposing Sudanese forces and is also accused of war crimes.

Sudanese protesters in London step on images of RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo and Abu Dhabi ruler Mohammed bin Zayed. Photo: Courtesy of Darfur Union UK

Some say such an intervention came too late and accused the West of being slow to pursue the RSF offensive on El Fasher.

Questions about the UAE’s support for the RSF arose on 13 June at a meeting in London between the FCDO and members of the British Darfur diaspora, sparked by the Guardian’s revelation that Secret talks between Britain and the RSF.

Abdallah Idriss Abugarda, chairman of the Darfur Diaspora Association, accused the FCDO of putting its relations with the UAE above civilian lives, a charge officials denied.

Abugarda said: “We are very concerned about British interests. It is not beneficial that the UAE appears to have influence over Britain. Britain does not care about its moral obligation.”

His association represents 30,000 people in the UK and is considered the largest organisation of its kind in the world. Unusually, it represents the nine African ethnic groups of Darfur.

According to Sudanese political analyst Kholood Khair, any attempts to protect the UAE are due to geopolitical dynamics. “The UAE has made itself indispensable to the West, especially the US, as a guarantor of their strategic goals in the region,” she said.

Khair added: “The UAE has helped the US counter Chinese dominance in Africa by spending more money than Beijing and receiving US security guarantees in return.”

Human rights groups point to economic relations and close ties with the Emirates important British personalitiessuch as Foreign Secretary David Cameron.

In 2013, Lord Cameron, as Prime Minister, founded a secret Whitehall unit Specifically, the aim was to woo the oil-rich sheikhs of the United Arab Emirates and persuade them to invest billions in the United Kingdom.

In January, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said he expected Britain to raise tens of billions of pounds in investment from the United Arab Emirates.