UN report raises fresh concerns over UAE’s role in Sudan war
Iran expresses concern about dire situation in Darfur
Pressure is mounting on the United Arab Emirates over its presence at a conference in London aimed at stopping the war in Sudan after a leaked confidential UN report raised fresh questions over the UAE’s role in the devastating conflict.
The UAE has been accused of secretly supplying weapons to Sudanese paramilitaries via neighboring Chad, a charge it has steadfastly denied.
However, an internal report – marked highly confidential and seen by the Guardian – detected “multiple” flights from the UAE in which transport planes made apparently deliberate attempts to avoid detection as they flew into bases in Chad where arms smuggling across the border into Sudan has been monitored.
The allegations raise complications for the British foreign secretary, David Lammy, who controversially invited the UAE alongside 19 other states for Sudan peace talks on April 15.
The date marks the second anniversary of a civil war that has caused the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis, displacing more than 12 million people. A senior diplomat, who is familiar with the leaked report but requested anonymity, said: “The UK needs to explain how it is responding to massacres of children and aid workers while hosting the UAE at its London conference.”
Sudan’s government has not invited to the conference. Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ali Yousif warned of the dangerous precedent being set by sidelining Sudan’s internationally recognized transitional government, while inviting the UAE, a country standing trial at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for allegedly aiding genocide in Darfur.
Questions over the UAE’s alleged role in backing the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) arrive after a weekend that saw its fighters kill more than 200 civilians in a wave of violence against vulnerable ethnic groups in displacement camps and around the city of El Fasher, the last major city still held by the Sudanese Army in Darfur, the vast western region of Sudan.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry expressed concern about the dire situation in El Fasher and called for the lifting of the siege on the city and an end to attacks, and the protection of civilian lives based on the principles of international humanitarian law.