This country is burning in civil war for 14 months, why is UAE being accused of inciting the fire?
Sudan was plunged into conflict again in mid-April last year when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders flared up in the capital, Khartoum, and quickly spread to other regions, including Darfur. The United Nations says more than 14,000 people have been killed and 33,000 injured.
Sudan was plunged into conflict again in mid-April last year, when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders flared up in the capital Khartoum and quickly spread to other areas, including Darfur. The United Nations says more than 14,000 people have been killed and 33,000 injured.
The Sudanese government has accused the United Arab Emirates of fuelling the 14-month war in the African country by arming its rival paramilitary forces. However, the UAE dismissed the accusation as ‘ridiculous’ and described it as a ‘shameful misbehaviour by one of the warring parties’.
The clash took place during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), in which Assistant Secretary-General Martha Pobee warned that ethnic-based atrocities were being committed in Sudan’s western Darfur region. She urged an immediate ceasefire in El Fasher, the capital of northern Darfur, which is besieged by the paramilitary Rapid Support Force. The ceasefire was called for from their side to prevent further atrocities, protect vital infrastructure and reduce civilian suffering.
Sudanese Ambassador Al-Harith Mohammed accused the paramilitary Rapid Support Force of ‘catastrophically starting’ the war with the Sudanese army and attacking civilians with the help of weapons from the UAE. In his allegation, he said that Sudan has a lot of evidence of arms being supplied by the UAE and the government will submit a file on the actions of the UAE to the International Criminal Court.
How did the UAE react to the allegation
However, on the allegation made by Sudan, UAE Ambassador Mohammed Abushahab said that these are ‘false allegations’ and he asked the question why the Sudanese government is refusing to return to peace talks.
Turning to Sudan’s ambassador seated next to him at the Security Council meeting, Abushahab said, “You must stop pretending in international forums like this and instead take responsibility for ending a conflict you started yourself.” UN experts monitoring the arms embargo in Darfur reported “credible” evidence in January that the UAE shipped weapons to the Rapid Support Force from northern Chad several times a week.
War endangers the lives of millions
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield yesterday reiterated the US appeal to all “external actors to stop sending weapons to Sudan and fuelling the ongoing conflict and perpetrating atrocities”. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Sudan’s Mohammed urged the UNSC to “take additional steps by naming and shaming the UAE”.
Adem Wosornu, operations director of the UN humanitarian office, told the council that the lives of 800,000 civilians trapped in El Fasher are “at risk”. He said millions of people in Darfur are being affected by indiscriminate bombing, sexual violence continues and “famine is imminent”. Currently, about 5 million people are facing emergency levels of food insecurity and more than 2 million people in 41 “hunger hotspots” could be trapped in a dire hunger crisis in the coming weeks.
3 lakh people died in violence
Wosornu said that about two decades ago, Darfur became synonymous with genocide and war crimes, especially by the notorious Janjaweed Arab militia, which was against the population identifying as Central or East African. Nearly 3 lakh people were killed and 27 lakh people were driven from their homes in the violence then.
Sudan again plunged into conflict in mid-April last year, when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders flared up in the capital Khartoum and quickly spread to other areas including Darfur. The UN says more than 14,000 people have been killed and 33,000 injured.
Appeal to stop the war immediately
The paramilitary Rapid Support Force was formed from Janjaweed fighters by then Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who ruled the country for 3 decades before being overthrown during a popular uprising in 2019. He is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide and other crimes during the conflict in Darfur in the 2000s.
Last Thursday, the Security Council passed a resolution demanding the Rapid Support Force immediately end its siege of Al Fasher. It is the only capital in Darfur that it does not control. The UN Security Council has appealed to the paramilitary force and Sudan’s army to “immediately end the war”.