UAE accused of arming RSF in Sudan with UK complicity

Fresh evidence has emerged linking the United Arab Emirates to the arming of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan, with the British government accused of turning a blind eye because of its close economic relationship with the Gulf state.

Nathaniel Raymond, a researcher at Yale University, told Sky News that his team had found telecommunications and signal intelligence showing the UAE is directly involved in the conflict. The RSF is a paramilitary group that has been accused of committing genocidal massacres, particularly around the city of El Fasher, where up to 60,000 people were killed and widespread sexual violence was reported.

The allegation is that the UAE has sent the RSF armoured vehicles, guns and drones, which have been used to hunt down civilians. The UAE has repeatedly denied any involvement, but the researcher said those denials are becoming less convincing as similar findings have been reported by Sky News and other organisations almost every week.

The story also focuses on Britain's role. The UK considers the UAE a close ally and a reliable source of investment, as well as a market for British weapons. But there are growing concerns that some of those weapons are ending up on the battlefield in Sudan, where the RSF and the Sudanese army have both committed terrible atrocities.

The Foreign Office has said it is working towards ceasefires and improving the humanitarian situation, and that it is satisfied that British arms licensing arrangements are watertight. But critics, including Raymond, say that if academics at Yale can find this evidence, intelligence agencies such as MI6 and GCHQ must have known about it, and that the government should publicly condemn the UAE and act to stop the supply.

The underlying suspicion is that the UK is choosing its economic relationship with the UAE, which is a reliable investor in British industries, over the lives of millions of civilians. The researcher said the UAE have made clear that if the UK government makes such claims, there will be economic reprisals. That leaves the British government, according to the report, facing a stark choice between protecting its own commercial interests and stopping mass atrocities in Sudan.

Neither the UAE nor the UK has officially changed its public position. The UAE continues to deny any involvement in the conflict, while the UK insists it is doing everything it can to bring about peace. But the repeated reports, and the growing body of evidence, are putting both governments under increasing pressure to respond to the accusations.