Despite Its Open Role in the Sudan War, This Is How the U.S. Overlooks the UAE’s Missteps

In the final days before officially stepping down on January 20, 2025, a legislative message from the U.S. Congress reached President Joe Biden’s administration, urging the UAE to halt its negative role in the ongoing war in Sudan.

However, as it has for the past four years, the White House turned a blind eye to the move, claiming that the UAE has pledged not to send weapons there again, thus continuing its blatant complicity in the Sudanese conflict.

Congressional Letter

On December 17, 2024, leaders from both sides of the aisle in Congress sent a letter to President Biden, urging swift action against external actors involved in the Sudanese conflict.

The letter was signed by Mark Warner, Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Republican James Risch, and Senator Chris Coons, Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, along with Senators Todd Young, Cory A. Booker, and Michael Rounds.

The letter urged the administration to take immediate action against external parties and commercial entities contributing to the atrocities in Sudan, including the smuggling of gold from Sudan to the UAE and other countries. 

It also called for urgent coordination with international allies and partners to strengthen the global response to the conflict, advocating for multilateral investigations and sanctions to ensure accountability for all responsible parties. Further, the letter emphasized the need for the administration to exert greater pressure on UAE companies potentially violating U.S. sanctions on Sudan.

Money Laundering

The letter from Senate leaders highlighted that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) control Sudan's richest gold mines, including Jebel Amer.

It highlighted that the forces, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti), have solidified their control over Sudan's gold trade through shell companies and banks based in both Sudan and the UAE. 

The letter also noted that these companies were used to finance weapons, propaganda, and alliances with armed groups (mercenaries), contributing to the ongoing war. 

It also highlighted that while Sudanese gold flows mainly to the UAE, the full extent of this trade remains shrouded in secrecy, plagued by smuggling and heavy undervaluation. The letter further warned that, despite the UAE's removal from the FATF grey list in February 2024, its gold sector remains a hotspot for money laundering.

But it didn’t end there. The following day, on December 18, 2024, Brett McGurk, the U.S. National Security Council’s Middle East official, sent a letter to Congress in which he said the UAE has informed the White House that it no longer transfers weapons to the RSF and will not do so in the future.

The administration will work with relevant departments and agencies to monitor the credibility and reliability of the assurances provided by the UAE, according to McGurk.

Halting Arms Shipments

In response, Reuters reported on December 19 that U.S. law requires Congressional review of major arms deals.

The agency also said that “senators can force votes on resolutions of disapproval that would block such sales. Although the law does not let House members trigger such votes, resolutions must pass both chambers of Congress, and potentially survive a presidential veto, to go into effect.”

“Sudan's army has accused the UAE of providing weapons and support to the RSF in Sudan's 18-month-old war.”

U.S. lawmakers are expected to push for a vote to block the sale of offensive weapons, including $1.2 billion worth of missiles, to the UAE, as per Reuters.

Recent Congressional discussions have suggested that without UAE support, the RSF would lack the capabilities to continue this war, making pressure, negotiation, and a ceasefire more likely alternatives.

Unlikely to Succeed

Commenting on the situation, Sudanese journalist Mohamed Nasr argued that the efforts of U.S. lawmakers were too little, too late, and would likely have little impact given the war's complexity and the upcoming Trump administration’s agenda.

“There have been numerous reports and UN resolutions accusing the UAE of sending weapons and mercenaries to support the RSF,” he told Al-Estiklal.

“These weapons have been used against millions of civilians, as reported by The New York Times a year ago and by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch in their consecutive reports, all backed by solid evidence.”

Nasr stressed that he does not expect any action against the UAE due to broader considerations beyond the Sudanese crisis, as the UAE remains a key security partner for both the U.S. and “Israel,” playing intelligence roles in several critical conflict zones, including Gaza, Syria, and Yemen.

“The UAE even had a chance to secure the U.S. F-35 fighter jet deal, a strategic contract granted only to Israel in the Middle East.”

The deal was halted in the final stages due to the UAE’s growing defense partnership with China and Washington’s fears that the aircraft’s technology might leak to its Asian rival, according to the journalist.

Nasr concluded that while the U.S. lawmakers' stance may be aimed at preventing further escalation, it is unlikely to offer a decisive solution to the unfolding disaster in Sudan, much like the situation in Gaza.

Fueling the War

The UAE has become the fuel for Sudan’s civil war, which erupted in mid-April 2023, a fact confirmed by numerous international reports.

Since then, “dozens of cargo planes from the United Arab Emirates have landed at a small airstrip in Chad that some UN experts and diplomats suspect is being used to funnel arms across the border into the conflict, flight data and satellite images show,” Reuters reported last week.

Flight data and documents from companies reviewed by the agency revealed that at least 86 flights from the UAE had arrived at the airstrip in Um Jaras in eastern Chad since the war broke out.

It noted that three-quarters of these flights were operated by airlines accused by the UN of smuggling arms from the UAE to Libya.

A January 2024 report by a UN panel of experts revealed that Abu Dhabi had provided military supplies to the RSF through the airstrip in Chad to aid its fight against the Sudanese army.

“Logistics win wars, and the UAE has used this plane network to consistently facilitate weapons to the RSF,” said Justin Lynch, lead analyst at the Sudan Conflict Observatory monitoring platform, who reviewed Reuters' flight analysis.

“UAE-supplied weapons to the RSF have altered the balance of power in Sudan's conflict, prolonged the war and increased civilian casualties.”

Brigadier General Nabil Abdullah, a spokesperson for the Sudanese army, said the supply of Emirati arms to the RSF was a “tangible fact”: “The flow of weapons and equipment from the UAE in this way to the rebel Rapid Support Militia has not stopped since the outbreak of this war.”