Sudan’s de facto leader implicitly denounces UAE for RSF support in UN address

Sudan’s de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has implicitly condemned the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for its support of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) during his address at the United Nations.

Al-Burhan on Friday lashed out at the “regional and political players” that have been backing the RSF in its well more than a year of deadly fight with Sudan’s army without naming the UAE, which has been accused of providing the RSF with military and financial aid.

His remarks came a day after his army launched a major offensive to retake the capital Khartoum from paratroopers of the RSF, led by Burhan’s former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

The RSF is “receiving political and logistical support at the local and regional levels,” added Al-Burhan.

He stressed that without this support, which came from countries that would like “to control our people’s riches through the use of force and specifically through the use of money,” the war in Sudan would have ended. 

Al-Burhan noted that it was “most unfortunate” that the RSF was “receiving the support of some states in the region, states which are providing funding and mercenaries for their own political and economic benefit.”

Sudan’s army-aligned government has previously provided the UN with evidence of the UAE’s backing of the RSF, including claims of Emirati forces being on the ground in Sudan.

This is while the UAE has time and again rejected the allegation. Back in April, the UAE foreign ministry sent a letter to the Security Council, denying Sudan’s accusations against the Persian Gulf Arab country.

However, a leaked UN report pointed to “credible” evidence that proved the UAE was providing military support to the RSF.

Later on Friday and after Al-Burhan’s speech, Burhan stressed that UAE ruler Mohammed bin Zayed had promised “to reconsider the situation” in a phone call the two men had in July.

The Sudanese leader gave no further details.

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Amid the 2023 Sudan war, the military government has largely moved to Port Sudan due to heavy combat in Khartoum, prompting many to refer to Port Sudan as the country’s de facto capital.

Located on the Red Sea in eastern Sudan, Port Sudan is the country’s primary seaport and accounts for 90 percent of the nation’s international trade.

Burhan and Dagalo seized full power in a 2021 coup, but their subsequent tense relations have plunged Sudan into even greater chaos and deeper turmoil during the past 17 months.

Both the army and the RSF have been accused by human rights groups inside and outside the African country of war crimes, including targeting civilians, torturing prisoners, and indiscriminate shelling of residential areas across Sudan.

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