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European countries should stop selling weapons to the United Arab Emirates as investigations trace the flow of military equipment from Abu Dhabi to the rebel group.
Sudan's ambassador to the EU has warned that weapons manufactured in Europe are ending up on battlefields in the African country and fueling atrocities in the two-year civil war.
Abdelbagi Kabeir has called on EU countries to stop selling arms to the United Arab Emirates, which a United Nations panel investigated this year over allegations it is supporting a notorious rebel army in the Sudanese conflict.
Sudan has been ravaged by a war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) of the government in Khartoum and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group accused by human rights groups and United Nations experts of ethnic cleansing, mass displacement and systematic sexual violence. The UN calls the humanitarian crisis one of the world's largest, with tens of thousands killed since 2023 and an estimated 25 million facing extreme hunger.
"The EU must weigh moral balance over commercial balance," said Kabeir, who represents Sudan's internationally recognized government in Khartoum, as he criticized the bloc's ties with the United Arab Emirates.
UN experts have been investigating the UAE's role in supplying arms to the RSF, allegations Abu Dhabi has denied. A wide-ranging France24 investigation in April traced ammunition manufactured in Bulgaria, an EU member state with a thriving arms industry, to its sale to the UAE and into the hands of RSF fighters, despite the bloc's arms embargo on Sudan.
Kabeir said the EU is obliged to ensure that its weapons are not re-exported to war zones like Sudan.
"Those weapons were not intended for use by third parties," he said, adding that the allegations put the bloc in a very uncomfortable situation.
Bulgaria confirmed to UN investigators that it had exported mortar shells to the United Arab Emirates in 2019, but said it did not authorize any re-exports to Sudan. The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry did not respond to POLITICO’s request for comment.
The British government also admitted last month that UK-made military equipment has been discovered in Sudan, while human rights group Amnesty International last November highlighted alleged cases in which RSF fighters used UAE-made armored vehicles containing French military systems.
Following Amnesty International's report, French defense firm Lacroix, which produced the systems together with KNDS France, said it "confirms that it supplied the UAE Armed Forces with GALIX self-defense systems, using smoke-based camouflage countermeasures."
The company added that it did so in strict compliance with the export licenses granted to LACROIX and the corresponding non-re-export certificates.
The United Arab Emirates ordered more than 21 billion euros worth of weapons from France between 2015 and 2024, ranking the country among the top buyers of French weapons, according to a government report published earlier this year.
A UAE government official said Abu Dhabi "categorically rejects any allegations of providing any form of support to either warring party since the beginning of the civil war," adding that it condemns the atrocities committed by both sides in the conflict.
"There is no substantiated evidence that the UAE has provided any support to RSF, or has any involvement in the conflict," the official said.
Strong connections
European Council President António Costa visited Abu Dhabi in late October, calling the UAE "an important and reliable partner for the EU: for the prosperity, stability and security of both our regions and beyond."
Mediterranean Commissioner Dubravka Šuica will also visit Gulf countries next month, including the United Arab Emirates, according to an EU official who declined to be identified to discuss the trip.
Kabeir said the EU should use its diplomatic clout and the upcoming visit to pressure Emirati officials "to stop sending weapons to RSF."
"What happens in sub-Saharan Africa, the impact is felt in the Mediterranean," he warned, adding that instability in Sudan will spread to the rest of the region and fuel migration flows.
Both the SAF and RSF have been accused by the UN and human rights organizations of serious abuses, including mass killings of civilians, torture, and sexual violence.
RSF fighters were accused of massacring members of the Masalit ethnic group in Darfur last year, killing thousands and forcing tens of thousands more to flee. Meanwhile, SAF airstrikes have been blamed for civilian casualties in densely populated urban areas./ Adapted from “Pamphlet” by “Politico”
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