Sudan Bans Broadcasting Emirati and Saudi Channels: Reasons and Implications

On April 2, 2024, Sudan News Agency (SUNA) announced the suspension of the Saudi channels Al-Arabiya and Al-Hadath, as well as the Emirati channel Sky News Arabia, from operating in Sudan.

The official reason cited for halting the operations of these Saudi and Emirati news channels was their "failure to adhere to the required professionalism and transparency and the non-renewal of their licenses."

However, the real reason lies in their media coverage bias and support for the Emirati-funded Rapid Support Forces militias against the Sudanese army, according to Sudanese sources speaking to Al-Estiklal.

What exacerbated the situation and prompted this decision was Sudan's suspicion that these channels had become intelligence tools, guiding and inciting Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo's (Hemedti) forces to specific targets or instigating and directing their bombardment, according to the same sources.

The decision coincided with an unprecedented tension between the Sudanese army and the UAE government, with Khartoum officially accusing Abu Dhabi of assisting the Rapid Support Forces and presenting evidence to support this claim.

The Sudanese government also lodged a formal complaint with the UN Security Council against the UAE, accusing it of interfering in the country's internal affairs and providing various forms of political, media, diplomatic, and financial support, as well as supplying weapons, ammunition, and mercenaries from various countries to support it.

What's the Story

Sudanese Minister of Culture and Information Graham Abdelkader issued a decision to suspend the operations of these three channels in Sudan and not to renew their licenses.

In a statement, he said that based on the principles and requirements of professionalism and transparency in media work, as well as the interest of the Sudanese citizen and their values, it had been decided to suspend the operations of the channels in Sudan due to their failure to adhere to the required transparency and professionalism, as they did not renew their licenses to operate in the country.

Al-Arabiya quoted its Sudan office director, Lina Yagoub, stating that both Al-Arabiya and Al-Hadath in Sudan renew their licenses periodically, indicating that the issue is not related to administrative or legal aspects.

Before this decision, on March 31, 2024, the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused the three channels of lacking objectivity in their coverage of events related to the country.

The Foreign Ministry in Sudan accused the UAE of funding and arming the Rapid Support Forces militia, recruiting mercenaries, providing war propaganda services, and "buying political loyalty."

The ministry attacked the Emirati channel Sky News Arabia, accusing it of forgery and lacking professionalism and objectivity in its coverage of Sudanese news, stating that it "seeks to conceal Emirati government sponsorship of terrorist militias."

Sudanese sources attributed the decision to the fact that these channels, especially the Emirati ones, broadcast information and reports that serve the Rapid Support Forces and incite against the Sudanese army, encouraging it to use local Islamic militias in its war against Hemedti's forces.

They affirmed that these channels were involved in identifying locations where Sudanese forces and their supporting militias gather, enabling them to be targeted by Emirati-provided drones operated by Hemedti's forces.

For example, the bombing of an Islamic Battalion breakfast gathering in Atbara on April 2, 2024, resulting in the death of 15 Islamic volunteers and the injury of 50, followed a series of reports by these channels about this battalion and its areas of operation.

Sources observed that the bombing indicated the existence or leakage of specific data related to the operation itself, suggesting the involvement of Emirati intelligence elements within Sky News crews in Sudan.

However, a Sudanese diplomat told Al-Estiklal that apart from these channels' involvement in security matters detrimental to the Sudanese army and allied popular forces, the decision to suspend Sky News, Al-Arabiya, and Al-Hadath also has political reasons.

"It is not reasonable for the UAE to support the Rapid Support Forces with arms and then turn into an ally of Hemedti's forces, allowing its channel, which broadcasts its viewpoint against the army, to broadcast from within Sudan normally, as an enemy channel."

The source clarified that "Sudan is sending messages to the UAE and Saudi Arabia by stopping the broadcast of its Al-Arabiya and Al-Hadath channels and Sky News from its territory," despite their continued broadcasting of Sudanese affairs from abroad.

Al-Bara' ibn Malik Brigades emerged after the outbreak of the Sudanese war in mid-April 2023 as an armed group affiliated with Islamists fighting alongside the army against the Rapid Support Forces.

The UAE fears the return of "Islamists" to power in Sudan following the overthrow of former President Omar al-Bashir's regime and the emergence of popular Islamic forces fighting alongside the army against Hemedti's forces, supported by the UAE. Their satellites and Saudi channels broadcast anti-Islamist reports.

Assistant General Commander Yasser al-Atta, the third man in the army, called on March 30, 2024, for disregarding negative talk about the "mobilized," referring to Islamists, saying that any negative talk about them is worthless, just words scattered by the wind, urging all actors in the country to engage in popular resistance.

Fraudulent media

On March 29, 2024, the Emirati channel Sky News Arabia aired a video report inciting against the Sudanese army, alleging the presence of Islamic State elements in Sudan and their participation in combat alongside the Sudanese Armed Forces.

In response, the Foreign Ministry of Sudan stated that Sky News Arabia re-broadcasted a video from Euro News in 2016 about an al-Shabaab attack on Mogadishu airport, claiming it showed Islamic State elements fighting alongside the Sudanese army against Hemedti's militia.

"The channel's approach in covering Sudanese news, lacking the minimum standards of professionalism and objectivity, requires nothing but a statement condemning this descent into blatant forgery, which must be stopped," the ministry added.

The timing of the report's broadcast coincided with Sudan's complaint to the Security Council against the UAE for its ongoing aggression against the country and its people, "using militias and tens of thousands of mercenaries from several countries."

The Sudanese Foreign Ministry described the channel's actions as "a desperate attempt to cover up detailed information and compelling evidence of the UAE's primary role in the war imposed on Sudan."

It stated that Emirati support for Hemedti's militia includes funding, arming, recruiting mercenaries, and providing war propaganda services, akin to what Sky News does, clarifying that the UN experts' report on Security Council Resolution 1519 adequately addressed this.

The Sudanese complaint, as reported by the official news agency, stated that the UAE provided "various forms of political, media, diplomatic, and financial support, in addition to supplying weapons, equipment, and recruiting mercenaries from various countries."

Sky News Arabia responded by stating that it conducted a review of the report addressed by the Foreign Ministry of Sudan, affirming its adherence to the report and sourcing its information from reliable sources.

However, it reiterated that after the review, it was found "there was an unintentional editing error involving the use of archival video clips lasting a few seconds within a four-minute report on the Islamic State that were misplaced."

"We confirm that the unintended error does not affect the factual and solid basis of our report," it added.

On January 19, 2024, The New York Times revealed that the UAE had established a dummy hospital in Chad to smuggle weapons to the Rapid Support Forces.

It was reported that the UAE bolstered its support for Hamdan in July 2023 when a new hospital, funded by the UAE, emerged in Um Jaras, a remote city in eastern Chad, ostensibly to provide medical treatment for Sudanese refugees.

However, Western intelligence agencies quickly realized that cargo planes landing at the nearby airstrip were actually carrying weapons destined for the Rapid Support Forces through this fictitious hospital.

In addition to the UAE's ambitions for Sudanese gold and its desire to secure a Sudanese Red Sea port, The New York Times stated that the Emirati motives for supporting Hemedti remain mysterious.

Citing experts, it reported the UAE's interest in port and agricultural land deals in this African–Arab state, along with its longstanding hostility towards Islamic forces.

Strange Equivalence

In a related context, analysts pointed out that unlike the Emirati Sky News channel, the two Saudi channels (Al-Arabiya and Al-Hadath) do not openly adopt the same anti-Sudanese army stance in their coverage from Khartoum.

This raises questions about the strange equivalence between the two Saudi channels and Sky News Arabia.

While Al-Arabiya aired reports on its programs about Sudanese support for the army, it did not broadcast anything supporting the Rapid Support Forces.

A team suggested that the reason might lie in the incitement by the two channels against the Islamic popular forces fighting alongside the army, tarnishing the army's image by depicting it as including "Islamic extremists."

Another team believed that the issue is related to the overall approach of the Al-Arabiya channel, which is far from credibility and objectivity.

A third team speculated that the reason might be linked to the Sudanese army's frustrated messages directed at Saudi Arabia for its limited role in the Sudan crisis.

Saudi Arabia has been limited to hosting conferences between representatives of the army and the Rapid Support Forces to achieve a ceasefire without clearly siding with and supporting the country's army. This stance equates the army with the militia.

This is unlike what the media of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's regime in Egypt does, as it largely supports the Sudanese army and distances itself from the Rapid Support Forces.