Watan-In a step described by many as unsurprising and possibly overdue, Sudan has lodged an official complaint with the United Nations Security Council against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) due to Abu Dhabi’s support for the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in their confrontation with the Sudanese army.
Sudan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Al-Harith Idris Al-Harith, stated, “On April 15 of last year, the Rapid Support Forces launched a wide-scale attack on sovereign and strategic targets in the capital Khartoum with the aim of eliminating the Transitional Sovereignty Council and then taking power to implement an external intervention agenda.”
He further added, “When the attack failed, the rebel militia resorted to committing violations and atrocities with unlimited support from the United Arab Emirates. They carried out deliberate attacks against the state, destroyed its infrastructure, and targeted civilians with killings, looting, rape, and displacement.”
Al-Harith emphasized that the UAE played a major role in igniting the war through its internal ally, the Rapid Support Forces, resulting in the deaths and injuries of thousands of innocent civilians, as well as the displacement of millions, causing unprecedented impact including food shortages, healthcare deficiencies, medication scarcity, heightened misery and suffering, halting of production, economic collapse, human rights violations, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes amounting to genocide.
أخيرا قررت القيادة السودانية تسمية الأمور بأسمائها، والشكوى إلى الأمم المتحدة جهارا نهارا من “العدوان الإماراتي على شعب #السودان” pic.twitter.com/jpLm4HyMnk
— محمد المختار الشنقيطي (@mshinqiti) March 29, 2024
He pointed out that the UAE’s actions posed a serious threat to regional and international peace, constituting acts of aggression, undermining peace, and flagrantly violating Sudan’s sovereignty. Moreover, they represented the worst forms of unauthorized interventions, particularly aggressive interventions threatening regional sovereignty, safety, people’s freedom, independence, and well-being.
Al-Harith stressed that the aggressive stance taken by the UAE towards Sudan since April 2023 serves as evidence that the UAE was fully aware that its actions were part of a plan to conduct armed aggression and support an armed military faction opposing the state and government of Sudan.
He insisted, “The UAE is required to compensate for the damages and losses caused by the attack of the Rapid Support Forces supported by it, in accordance with the principles of international law regarding states’ responsibility for internationally unlawful actions.”
Compensation Demand
In a memorandum submitted by the Sudanese representative to the presidency of the United Nations Security Council, the UAE was urged to “compensate for the losses caused by the Emirati aggression and to hold those responsible accountable for international accountability.”
The member states were also called upon to “publicly condemn the aggression of the UAE against Sudan and its people, explicitly name it, and firmly demand it to cease interfering in the internal affairs of Sudan, immediately stop recruiting mercenaries, and halt military, logistic, and supplies support to the Rapid Support Forces and affiliated militias.”
Additionally, they urged to demand Chad and the Central African Republic to halt “the implementation of the aggression plan against Sudan by turning a blind eye to the recruitment of young fighters in their territories to enhance the military effort of the Rapid Support Forces, allowing mercenaries to pass through their territories, and providing their territories to host fighters, accommodate the wounded, and transfer weapons, supplies, and military equipment to the Rapid Support Forces in Darfur and elsewhere.”
UAE’s Arming of the Rapid Support Forces
In a related context, Sudan’s Foreign Minister, Ali Siddiq, accused the UAE of “financing and arming the Rapid Support Forces.”
Siddiq stated that the UAE “chose to be an enemy of the Sudanese people and to support the militia,” adding that the UAE “has become a partner in the destruction and devastation that befell Sudan.”
Regarding the issue of expelling diplomats, Siddiq affirmed that “the UAE took the initiative and expelled a group of Sudanese diplomats, and thus, according to international law, we have the right to reciprocate, and we have expelled a number of Emirati diplomats.”
Sudan Witnesses Worst Humanitarian Crisis: The United Nations warned about a week ago that “Sudan is experiencing one of the worst humanitarian crises in modern history after nearly a year of war.”
The Director of Operations at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Edem Wosornu, stated, “As we approach the first anniversary of the conflict, we cannot overstate the despair facing civilians in Sudan.”
She confirmed that “18 million people, or about a third of the population, are facing acute shortages.”
According to the United Nations, the majority of those affected are located in conflict hotspots in the Darfur and Kordofan regions, as well as in the states of Khartoum and Al-Jazirah in Sudan.
The fighting has restricted agricultural production, destroyed key infrastructure, led to price hikes, and disrupted trade flows, among other effects.