Sudan: The RSF's Backers and the Arms Pipeline

Summary

UAE-linked networks running through Libya, Chad, Somalia and Colombia have armed, fuelled and manned Sudan's RSF for years, UN bodies and reporters find, while Abu Dhabi denies it and legal efforts to stop it have stalled.

What it argues

1. UAE denies, Sudan accuses

   An Emirati official told the Financial Times the UAE "does not take sides" and frames flights to Amdjarass, Chad, as humanitarian. Sudan accused the UAE of complicity in genocide at the International Court of Justice in April 2025, Middle East Eye reports. Official denial sits directly against a state-to-state genocide accusation.

2. Libya route and muted response

   Haftar's Libyan Arab Armed Forces supply fuel, arms and training camps to the RSF on the UAE's behalf, rerouting via Chad's Amdjarass airport when Egypt and Turkey struck convoys, Middle East Eye reports. UK officials held secret talks with the RSF and discouraged allies from raising the UAE's role; a 2026 US peace plan was co-authored with the UAE, per Middle East Eye and Just Security. Exposure of the Libya-based network has drawn little international pushback.

3. Gold, land and ports

   Hemedti family gold mines in Darfur export to Dubai; UAE-linked firms farm over 50,000 hectares in Sudan and sought an $8bn Red Sea port deal, Middle East Eye reports. The RSF's own gold-funded network of about 50 companies pays for weapons, salaries and media campaigns, a leaked UN Panel of Experts report found. Resource and trade interests run alongside the UAE's military backing of the RSF.

4. Libyan fuel smuggling funds RSF

   Haftar's forces have been a "key fuel supplier" to the RSF since 2023, reflecting "deep loyalty" to the UAE, watchdog The Sentry found. Smuggling diverts over $20bn in subsidised fuel from Libya's economy, the same networks also used by Russia's military activities. Illicit Libyan fuel trade doubles as a financial lifeline for the RSF.

5. UN monitors trace arms to UAE

   A leaked UN Panel of Experts report found "credible" evidence of UAE weapons flights to the RSF "several times per week" via Amdjarass, Al Jazeera reports. The 2026 UN Fact-Finding Mission found UAE-linked networks across Libya, Chad, Somalia and Colombia supplied arms, training and foreign contractors to the RSF. Successive UN bodies document a transnational supply chain reaching the UAE.

6. Arms embargo widely flouted

   The 2004/2005 Darfur arms embargo is "one of the most underutilized and flouted" UN instruments, Just Security writes, with its expansion debated at the Security Council in October 2026. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International physically traced Emirati-linked and Chinese-made munitions, drones and howitzers to both the RSF and the SAF in Darfur. Documented violations of the embargo have not brought enforcement.

7. ICJ case dismissed, new routes sought

   The ICJ dismissed Sudan's genocide-complicity case against the UAE in May 2025, citing lack of jurisdiction under the UAE's Genocide Convention reservation. Just Security argues a separate ICJ case over arms-embargo breaches, plus a dedicated international arms-monitoring body, remains legally open. Legal accountability has so far failed, prompting calls for alternative avenues.

8. Civilian toll and genocide allegations

   RSF fighters carried out mass executions in el-Fasher, which a Yale researcher called "Rwanda-level"; the UN Fact-Finding Mission said conduct there showed "hallmarks of genocide," per Middle East Eye. The US and an independent inquiry separately found "clear and convincing evidence" of genocide against the Masalit; Colombian contractors recruited through UAE-linked networks took part in RSF operations. Externally supplied weapons and fighters are directly linked by investigators to mass civilian death and alleged genocide.