(Port Sudan) Sudan has called for an emergency meeting of the Security Council to examine what it describes as “aggression” by the United Arab Emirates “against the Sudanese people”, via its alleged support for paramilitaries at war against the army, a Sudanese diplomatic source told AFP on Saturday.
Since April 2023, Sudan has been the scene of a war opposing the army of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane to the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (FSR), under the command of General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo.
The army, supported by the government, has for months accused Abu Dhabi of supporting the rival camp.
“Our Permanent Representative to the UN yesterday (Friday) requested an emergency session of the Security Council to discuss the UAE’s aggression against the Sudanese people and their provision of arms and equipment to the terrorist militia” of the FSR, said this official on condition of anonymity.
The Sudanese News Agency (Suna) confirmed that the representative of Sudan, Al-Harith Idriss, submitted this request and stressed that “the support of the United Arab Emirates to the criminal militia of the RSF […] makes the United Arab Emirates complicit in all its crimes.”
In a letter to the Security Council last week, Abu Dhabi refuted accusations of its alleged support for the RSF.
“All allegations regarding the involvement of the UAE in any form of aggression or destabilization in Sudan, or the provision of military, logistical, financial or political support to any Sudanese faction are baseless and unsubstantiated by credible evidence,” according to the letter relayed by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In a separate statement, the UN Security Council expressed “deep concern” over the escalation of fighting in Sudan’s North Darfur province and warned of a possible imminent offensive by RSF paramilitaries and allied militias in el-Facher, the state capital, which is not under their control and shelters a large number of refugees.
The United Nations already raised this risk on Friday, with High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk expressing “serious fear”.
The war has already caused thousands of deaths, destroyed Sudan’s already precarious infrastructure and displaced more than 8.5 million people, according to the UN.
In December, Khartoum asked 15 Emirati diplomats to leave the country after a top army commander accused Abu Dhabi of supporting the paramilitaries.
At the same time, demonstrations in the city of Port Sudan (east) demanded the expulsion of the Emirati ambassador.
In August 2023, The Wall Street Journal, citing Ugandan officials, reported that weapons had been discovered on an Emirati cargo plane meant to transport humanitarian aid to Sudanese refugees in Chad. The Emirates denied this.