UAE under scrutiny over alleged arms shipments to Sudan

The United Arab Emirates is under growing international pressure following a leaked UN report that casts new doubt on the Emirates’ involvement in the ongoing conflict in Sudan.

According to the confidential document obtained by the Guardian, UN investigators tracked a series of suspicious cargo flights from the UAE to Chad — many of which appeared to intentionally avoid detection.

The report, compiled by a UN panel and submitted to the Security Council’s Sudan Sanctions Committee, identified a pattern of Ilyushin Il-76TD aircraft frequently flying from UAE airports to airbases in Chad. These routes are believed to align with known smuggling paths used to funnel weapons to Sudanese paramilitary groups.

Although the report did not confirm the contents of the cargo, the frequency and flight behaviour, such as disappearing from tracking systems during crucial segments, prompted concerns over potential covert military operations.

The UAE has firmly denied accusations that it is arming factions in Sudan, particularly the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been locked in a brutal war with Sudan’s military since April 2023. The conflict has displaced over 12 million people and triggered a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.

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The controversy presents a diplomatic challenge for UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who has extended invitations to 20 countries — including the UAE — for the Sudan peace conference scheduled for today at Lancaster House. The meeting falls on the second anniversary of the war’s outbreak.

A senior diplomat familiar with the situation told the Guardian: “The UK needs to explain how it is responding to massacres of children and aid workers while hosting the UAE at its London conference.”

The leaked 14-page report described the UAE-Chad air corridor as forming a “new regional air bridge,” but noted that direct evidence of weapons onboard the flights had not been found. Nonetheless, the pattern of activity has raised red flags among observers and intensified calls for accountability.

While a leaked internal UN report had flagged at least 24 Ilyushin Il-76TD flights from the UAE to Chad — believed to be linked to potential arms smuggling to the RSF — the final 39-page document, due for release in days, makes no mention of these flights or the UAE’s involvement, citing a lack of conclusive evidence.

This development comes amid heightened scrutiny of the UAE’s role in the Sudan conflict, following a weekend of violence in which RSF fighters reportedly killed over 200 civilians, many from ethnic communities in displacement camps near El Fasher—the last major city in Darfur still held by Sudan’s army.

A senior diplomat, reacting to the omissions, warned: “It will be shameful if the conference [in London] does not deliver concrete civilian protection in the context of ongoing genocide.”

Sudan accuses the UAE of arming the RSF, a charge that UN experts and US lawmakers have found credible, and it has taken a case against it to the International Court of Justice in the Hague. The UAE has denied the allegation and asked for the case to be thrown out.

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