“Unlimited Cash”: How UAE Ambition & Western Complicity Fuelled the Sudan Genocide
Summary: the capture of El Fasher by the UAE-backed RSF exposed horrific atrocities and was facilitated by the UAE's continued supply of weapons despite a UN embargo. Western powers, particularly the US and UK, are criticised for their diplomatic failure to halt the conflict, as their deep financial and strategic ties with the "unlimited cash" of the UAE override concerns about genocide in Sudan.
The city of El Fasher, the capital of Sudan's North Darfur region, has fallen into an abyss of horror, demonstrating the bloody price of unchecked regional ambition and Western inaction. After an 18-month siege, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), fully captured El Fasher on October 27. The immediate aftermath has been defined by atrocities that likely constitute crimes against humanity.
Reports reveal a systematic campaign of violence against the trapped civilian population. RSF fighters have been documented rounding up civilian men, a tactic seen before mass executions. Satellite imagery confirmed mass killings of civilians who tried to escape along the earthen berm the RSF constructed to encircle the city. Atrocities include mass killings at the Children's Hospital and Saudi Hospital. The RSF has published videos of themselves harassing, robbing, beating, and executing unarmed civilians trying to flee. With communications networks down, the full extent of the ongoing atrocities remains deliberately obscured. There were about a quarter million civilians still left in the city of El Fasher, desperately to leave.
The fall of El Fasher carries devastating strategic consequences, pushing Sudan toward separation and state failure. The country is already experiencing a de facto partition. The RSF now controls one-third of the country, encompassing the entirety of Darfur. This grants the militia control over three international borders - with Chad, the Central African Republic, and Libya - allowing them an unhindered ability to bring in reinforcements and military supplies.
At the heart of Sudan’s unrelenting war is the United Arab Emirates, identified as the RSF's main patron and weapons supplier. Experts are unanimous that the war would be over were it not for the efforts of the UAE to support and arm the RSF, which is receiving an overwhelming amount of military support.
Evidence of UAE involvement is staggering: US intelligence agencies recorded an increase in materiel flowing from the UAE to the RSF throughout 2025. The shipments include advanced Chinese-made drones and vast amounts of small arms, heavy machine guns, vehicles, artillery, mortars, and ammunition. The UAE has been accused of funneling these Chinese weapons into Darfur despite an ongoing UN arms embargo.
The UAE set up a massive cargo air bridge using logistics hubs around Africa, including in Somalia’s Puntland state and Libya, to fly materiel into Darfur. The UAE’s motivation is to protect Emirati interests, including access to Sudan’s vast gold resources and its strategic Red Sea coastline. The UAE’s Foreign Ministry, however, continues to “strongly reject” the suggestion that it is supplying weaponry.
The international response has been characterised by “diplomatic failure" and “global paralysis”. Western powers are either ineffective or complicit, largely due to their deep commitment to the UAE - a country President Trump described as having “unlimited cash”.
The Trump administration faces criticism for its failure to pressure the UAE, choosing to “prioritise its economic, military and technological relationship with the UAE” over the lives of people in Darfur, viewing Sudan as having “very low strategic value”. The administration does not want to risk upsetting the UAE publicly because of the nation’s central role in higher priority issues, such as Gaza reconstruction and competition with China over microchips. On Saturday a senior US State Department official posted on X “As a founding signatory to the Abraham Accords, the UAE continues to show regional leadership as a force for peaceful prosperity in the Middle East.” Furthermore, the UAE has personally enriched Trump's family through intertwined deals, including a $2 billion crypto investment, further compromising the administration's ability to act. The administration’s mediation attempts, such as the “Quad” talks (US, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt), were described as a “feckless” effort that fell apart, partly due to the President delegating the job to his daughter’s father-in-law, Massad Boulos, who has absolutely no diplomatic experience and was selling used cars in Nigeria at this time last year. Boulos's only public action was to call on the genocidal RSF to “protect civilians and prevent further suffering.”
The silence and inactivity from the US and UK governments regarding Emirati arms supply to the RSF is deafening. The US has increased weapons sales to the UAE, actively profiting off of this genocide. In the UK, the government was forced to admit that UK-made military equipment has been found in Sudan, having been purchased by the UAE. Foreign Office Minister Stephen Doughty resisted calls for an arms embargo on the UAE. The UK Independent Commission on Aid Impact (ICAI) this month published a review on UK aid to Sudan complimenting the UK role but saying nothing about UAE arms supplies. An ICAI official gave a favourable review of the UK's role saying "I think it’s important to say there are lots of strengths, there are lots of good things going on in Sudan.” On 28 Oct the UK parliament's International Development Committee held a hearing in which the Minister for Development responded evasively to a question from the committee chair about whether the UK is urging the UAE to help get a ceasefire and on 30 Oct the UK made a bland statement in the UNSC session about Sudan. Jenny Chapman, Minister for International Development and Africa, said she was “concerned” about the RSF’s advances and called on them to “honour their commitments to protect civilians”. Former British Foreign Secretary David Lammy's public statements on Sudan were also highlighted as performative, as he was unable to answer questions about the UAE's deep involvement.
The UK’s soft approach is likely due to the UAE’s diplomatic leverage; the UAE has demonstrated its willingness to cancel meetings with British ministers who failed to defend them at the UN Security Council. Furthermore, US policy has actively undermined the RSF’s opponents: the Treasury Department issued terrorism-related designations that targeted Sudanese government officials and resistance actors, effectively framing them as “Islamist terrorism” while allowing the RSF to operate with impunity.
The atrocities in El Fasher are a long predicted tragedy. To end the conflict, the West must prioritise human rights over financial ties. There is growing bipartisan support in the US Senate to designate the RSF as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO). The US must go further and immediately halt arms sales and end defence partnerships with the UAE, while lifting the unilateral sanctions and designations that harm Sudanese civilians, as well as the immigrant ban on those fleeing the genocide. Sudan's survival hinges on the West's willingness to hold external governments, particularly the UAE, accountable for their role in the suffering, rather than being silenced by "unlimited cash".
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