UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said on Saturday that more than a dozen countries are involved in arms flows to Sudan’s warring parties, a view echoed by US envoy Massad Boulos, who said both sides are receiving counterproductive external support.
Their assessment at the Munich Security Conference followed a tense appearance by Sudan’s army-backed prime minister Kamil Idris, who denied the existence of any ceasefire proposal and claimed the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had been dissolved.
He added that his assessment of the RSF was based on media reports, and said accusations against countries such as the UAE of supporting rival forces were partly grounded in university studies.
But Ms Cooper said: "Our assessment is there's probably more than a dozen countries that are in some way involved in arms flows, maybe through funding, maybe through manufacture, maybe through transit, maybe through training in different ways.
"Those two military sides think there is a military solution when there isn't because they can still get access to arms flows," she added. "I think we need the same kind of energy, focus and spotlight on Sudan that we had on Gaza through the summer and in the buildup to the ceasefire in Gaza last year."
Asked about claims that the UAE sent UK weapons to the RSF, she said the allegations were "unfounded".
"When there were any allegations made, I insisted that all the licenses were reviewed and 2,000 licenses were reviewed to ensure that there was no leakage, to ensure that ... any of those licenses was reaching Sudan and to make sure that the allegations that had been made were unfounded."
Mr Boulos said that arms are flowing to both warring parties, accused of committing atrocities and war crimes.
"We are totally against any sort of external support that we're seeing, and we're seeing it coming from all sorts of different sources, different supply routes, and to both parties, we're seeing it come to both sides, and this is totally counterproductive," he clarified.
No ceasefire
The UAE, which has repeatedly denied supporting the RSF, is one of Sudan's top humanitarian donors.
Abu Dhabi has provided more than $4.24 billion in assistance to the war-torn country since 2015, including almost $800 million in humanitarian aid since the fighting erupted in 2023, according to figures provided by the UAE Foreign Ministry.
The UAE this month announced that it would contribute a further $500 million to a humanitarian fund for Sudan at a pledging conference in Washington, and welcomed a “Comprehensive Peace Plan” for the country announced by Mr Boulos.
The Emirates has also repeatedly urged a transition to civilian rule in Sudan that is "fully independent of the warring parties" to end the three-year conflict.
In an earlier conference session, Mr Idris said the Sudanese Armed Forces had not agreed to a ceasefire and would not do so unless it formed part of a comprehensive package.
“We have not yet agreed on anything. We do not have on the table of the government any concrete proposal,” Mr Idris claimed, dismissing suggestions that a viable truce framework was under discussion despite the present humanitarian truce on the table.
He defended his claims against the UAE, saying they rest on what he described as established findings. “We have evidence beyond a reasonable doubt established by prestigious organisations, the United Nations System of Organisations, and prestigious universities in the United States of America. They did say that it is not us".
RSF "dissolved"
He also cited “established reports in the media and in the international media” about the RSF being "dissolved" and replaced by mercenaries, underscoring that his government’s position is partly based on external reporting and academic studies rather than solely on its own investigations.
While he acknowledged atrocities committed during the war, he defended the military’s campaign, framing it as constitutional self-defence.
“What the Sudanese army was doing [was] self-defence. This is the army that is under the constitution; they are under obligation to defend Sudan and the Sudanese people, so it is not a traditional war where fighters were coming to attack you".
Mr Boulos commented on those claims, saying that both parties must immediately agree to the proposed three-month humanitarian truce and cease hostilities.
"This was quite interesting. The realities and the facts on the ground are quite different. We all know that there are two parties to this conflict. We, as mediators, are not taking sides. We call them out whenever they cross any lines, and they've crossed a few", he said.
"Unfortunately, there are two parties. One may have committed much more than the other, but we have to work as mediators; we have to work with both sides to get to an end, a peaceful end to this war. We all know that there's no military solution. This has to end peacefully through a negotiated process".
Sudan has been gripped by war since April 2023, when tensions between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) exploded into open conflict, devastating large parts of the country, displacing millions and triggering one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
