Refugees International Calls for Action: New Evidence of United Arab Emirates Fueling Genocide in Sudan

Statement from Refugees International Director for Africa, Asia, and the Middle East Daniel P. Sullivan:

“Refugees International calls for immediate accountability for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as new evidence emerges that it continues to fuel genocide in Sudan. A new report by the Conflict Insights Group (CIG)  – supported in part by Refugees International – reveal that the UAE continues to supply weapons and provide other lethal assistance to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – a paramilitary group that the United States has found responsible for genocide.

It is particularly damning that these investigations reveal how UAE support – including through foreign mercenaries – enabled horrific mass atrocities in El Fasher, Darfur in October 2025. The evidence collected places UAE-supported mercenaries from Colombia in and around El Fasher as the town fell and shows that the UAE supported enhanced drone capabilities that helped the RSF to carry out deadly attacks on civilians. As the CIG report concludes, “Without this assistance, the siege, takeover, and resulting atrocities would likely not have occurred.”

The UAE could play a critical role in stopping further famine and atrocities, but it must first come clean about its support to the RSF. On February 3, 2026, the UAE pledged $500 million in humanitarian aid for Sudan – money that is needed largely because of its history of enabling RSF atrocities. As long as the UAE continues to support the RSF’s abuses, more Sudanese will be killed and such pledges will amount to little more than aid-washing.

In December 2025, Refugees International interviewed several survivors of the El Fasher atrocities newly arrived at the Sudan-Chad border and released a report. The survivors reported summary executions and sexual violence, corroborating other reports of widespread and systematic mass killings at the hands of the RSF and allied militias. In January 2026, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) assessed that crimes against humanity and war crimes had been committed in El Fasher. On February 19, 2026, the UN Fact Finding Mission on Sudan determined that the RSF attacks bore the “hallmarks of genocide”.

The UN Security Council has imposed a Chapter-VII arms embargo on Darfur since 2004 and extended it again last September. Supply of arms, mercenaries, and training to the RSF in Darfur constitutes a clear violation of that binding embargo. And these violations are continuing. CIG finds evidence that Colombian mercenaries remained in Darfur as recently as January 20, 2026. The UN Security Council should take action to sanction the UAE for its continued flagrant violations of the embargo.

Other external actors, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been supporting the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) who are also responsible for crimes against humanity and war crimes. Recent reports have revealed that Egypt has provided a drone base for the SAF.

Sudan continues to face famine and genocide. If the worst humanitarian and displacement crisis in the world is to end, the external actors fueling the fighting must be held to account. Given this new evidence and the UAE refusal to come clean about its involvement in the RSF’s atrocities, that must start with the UAE.

Refugees International calls for:

• The UAE to immediately halt supply of arms, training, and mercenaries to the RSF, and to use its influence with the RSF to halt the ongoing atrocity crimes in Sudan; 
• UN and prominent member states to urgently engage all implicated governments to reinforce their obligation to abide by the Darfur arms embargo;
• The UN Security Council to expand the arms embargo to all of Sudan including provision of weapons to the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF);
• The United States and other countries to halt any further weapon sales to the UAE until it has ended armed support for the RSF;
• Prominent companies and organizations like the NBA, Disney, and Warner Brothers to suspend their partnerships with the UAE until it has ended its armed support for the RSF.

For more information or to schedule an interview, contact Etant Dupain edupain@refugeesinternational.org.