The Arab country is among the major supporters of the Rapid
Support Forces (RSF) under the command of General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemeti.
RSF is the main recipient of the gold trafficked by the militia’s leaders, starting with the leader Hemeti and his family. But the rich state of the Emirs is also the cornerstone of a series of connections that end up fuelling the conflict with their weapons.

Peace in Sudan passes through the United Arab Emirates. This is because Abu Dhabi is the magnetic north of a sort of compass of chaos and the conflict in the African country, one of the worst humanitarian crises on the planet, seems to be emblematic of this.

Etihad Towers in Abu Dhabi. The Arab country is the backbone of various triangulations that play a role in the conflict. 123rf

From the small country of the Arabian Peninsula, illegal trafficking and opaque connections start and flow together, nourishing interests and fuelling instability in various parts of the world. The Emirates have found a privileged interlocutor in the hostilities that have continued since April 2023: the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) under the command of General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo known as Hemeti.
Abu Dhabi is the backbone of various triangulations that play a role in the conflict: identifying them helps shed light on a complex war that is relevant to the interests of many.

From Abu Dhabi to Ndjamena
On 20 October 2024, the RSF shot down a cargo plane in the Malha area, north of Al-Fasher, in the western region of North Darfur. The militia claimed on social media that it had destroyed an Antonov plane used as a bomber by the Sudanese army.
The wreckage of the aircraft turned out to be an Ilyushin-76. One of the crew members was wearing a badge identifying him as an engineer from Airline Transport Incorporation, a company based in the United Arab Emirates. A few hours later, when they realised their mistake, the RSF removed the video of the celebrating soldiers.
This “incident” would confirm the data of a United Nations report which refers to at least 86 flights departing from the United Arab Emirates and landing on the runway in Amdjarass, in eastern Chad, since the beginning of the conflict in Sudan.

President of Chad Mahamat Déby Itno. He received more than a billion dollars in exchange for the guarantee of support for the RSF through the Chadian city of Amdjarass, to be used as a supply centre. Facebook

The war is mainly between the RSF and the regular Sudanese army (Sudan Armed Forces, SAF). The cargo of the flights in question, according to documents examined by Reuters, consisted of weapons hidden among humanitarian aid. The transporters were reportedly the same four companies that the UN had accused of trafficking weapons to the militias of General Khalifa Haftar  – a strongman in eastern Libya and a supporter of the RSF in the conflict between 2019 and 2020: ZetAvia and Flysky Airlines from Ukraine and FlySky Kyrgyz and Sapsan Airlines from Kyrgyzstan. According to the reconstruction by The Africa Report, in July 2023, the Emirates offered the Chadian President, Mahmat Déby, more than a billion dollars in exchange for the guarantee of support for the RSF through the Chadian city of Amdjarass,
to be used as a supply centre.

The special relationship with Hemeti
It passes through Chad but is aimed at reaching Hemeti’s men. The relationship between the government of Abu Dhabi and the RSF was strengthened during the war in Yemen, which began in 2014 and has reached a stage of prolonged ceasefire that has now lasted for more than a year. RSF militiamen have fought against the Houthi militias on behalf of the Emirates. The road that connects the Sudanese militia to Abu Dhabi is paved with gold. The Dagalo family’s companies control the exploitation of the precious resource in Darfur, where half of Sudan’s reserves are estimated to be found. 75% of Sudanese gold is trafficked and ends up on the Emirates market.
These figures are not isolated on the continent: according to a report last May by the NGO Swissaid, about 40% of all African gold exports are undeclared and of these 93% are destined for the Emirates.
Reuters reported that Abu Dhabi disclosed $7.4 billion worth of gold imports from 25 African countries that had not declared any
exports to the country.

Gold market in Dubai. About 40% of all African gold exports are undeclared and of these 93% are destined for the Emirates. 123rf

Documents reviewed by Reuters in 2018 and 2019 showed that Algunade, a company owned by the Dagalo family, was already sending about $30 million in gold bars, or about a tonne, to Dubai every three weeks. The Emirates is the world’s third-largest importer of the precious metal, which in turn accounts for 70% of Sudan’s exports. Legal sales of the metal generated $1.5 billion in revenue for Khartoum in the first 10 months of 2024, almost all of it destined for the Arab country. That figure does not include gold that escapes official channels in a volume similar to that legally exported. These Dagalo family businesses have their tax residence in the Emirates and have allowed the RSF leader to finance an army that exceeded 100,000 soldiers at the beginning of the war against the SAF.

Western hypotenuse
The Emirates and several European countries have a long-standing relationship in the defence sector. In 2014, a $200 million deal was signed between the state-owned Serbian arms company Yugoimport and the Emirates holding company Earth.
For example, weapons from the Balkan country have been found in Sudan. The French parliament’s 2024 report on arms exports shows that French companies have supplied €2.6 billion in military equipment to the Emirates between 2014 and 2023. Armoured vehicles manufactured in the Arab country and equipped with French-designed defence systems are part of the RSF’s current arsenal, according to a report by Amnesty International. This would be a violation of the arms embargo that the European Union imposed on Sudan in 1994.

General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemeti, in a video produced by the Rapid Support Forces (Screengrab)

However, the links between the RSF and the EU do not end there. In 2014, a platform to contain illegal migration known as the Khartoum Process was established, which is based on cooperation between EU countries and countries along the migration route from the Horn of Africa. Brussels asked for Khartoum’s help to stem the flow of migrants to Europe at a time when the RSF was largely responsible for patrolling the borders. Meanwhile, according to a report by the Dutch think-tank Clingendael, Hemeti’s militias allegedly organised a system whereby they received money from migrants to smuggle them into Libya in military vehicles. And the US? Last September, former President Joe Biden and his counterpart Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan signed a multi-billion-dollar cooperation agreement that made the Emirates a privileged strategic ally of Washington. A policy with paradoxical implications: last month the US Treasury sanctioned Hemeti and seven companies linked to his militia and based in the Emirates. At the same time as announcing the measure, former Secretary of State Antony Blinken also accused the RSF of being responsible for “genocide” in the ongoing conflict. (Open Photo: Flag of United Arab Emirates on the background of sunset sky. 123rf)

Mohamed Ahmed Al-Kasalawi