The UAE’s commitment to Sudan’s future remains strong

Children share a meal provided through a charity initiative at a displacement camp in Gedaref city in the east of war-torn Sudan. AFP

For more than five decades, the UAE and Sudan have had close relations bound by deep ties of trade, culture and friendship. Since the UAE’s founding in 1971, our nations have exchanged goods, ideas and celebrations. The UAE has invested in Sudan – funding agriculture and clean water, and supporting and creating jobs through business investments. Today, the large and highly respected Sudanese expatriate community living in the UAE stands as a testament to this enduring connection.

Throughout Sudan’s turbulent history of wars and coups, the UAE was always there to help and support the Sudanese people. Regrettably, the civil war that erupted in April 2023 has reshaped Sudan’s reality, bringing death, destruction and immense suffering to its people. For nearly two years, we have worked tirelessly with our partners to help alleviate this catastrophe – in concerted attempts to avoid the war following the overthrow of the civilian government and later on supporting negotiations, providing aid, and repeatedly urging both warring sides to stop the fighting and seek a political outcome.

Our commitment to peace extends beyond words. Over the past decade, the UAE has contributed more than $3.5 billion in humanitarian aid to Sudan, and since the conflict this has amounted to more than $600 million. Furthermore, the UAE’s voice was one of the most active in highlighting the effects of this war on the helpless and hapless civilians. We have also partnered with neighbouring countries to bolster humanitarian relief and have convened international actors to push for a peaceful resolution.

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Most recently, this was evident at the UAE-hosted humanitarian conference on Sudan in Addis Ababa, held on the margins of the African Union summit, along with Ethiopia, the AU and the continent’s Intergovernmental Authority on Development. Numerous nations gathered together to call for a Ramadan ceasefire and reaffirm their commitment to Sudan’s future. There, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres delivered a stark message: the world must act – urgently and decisively – to help the people of Sudan out of this nightmare. We fully agree, which is why our pursuit of a ceasefire remains unwavering.

This commitment is part of our longstanding vision to promote peace, prosperity, partnership and sustainable economic development across Africa. UAE companies have played a vital role in connecting the continent – building ports, expanding flight networks and financing major infrastructure projects. Our collaborations with African businesses have created jobs, fostered innovation, and supported training and education programmes for young Africans. We have built together strong diplomatic and trade relationships and deepened fraternal ties across the continent. Today, the UAE stands among Africa’s largest investors, with a legacy of collaboration spanning more than 50 years. Our goal is clear: we want both Africa and the Middle East to thrive and flourish together.

We unequivocally condemn the atrocities committed by both parties and call for their immediate cessation

The Sudanese Armed Forces-led government’s farcical actions at the International Court of Justice are nothing more than a political game and publicity stunt – an attempt to drag a longstanding friend of Sudan and Africa into the conflict they themselves have fuelled. This follows the SAF’s absurd actions at the UN Security Council, which were similarly built on fabrications, falsehoods and fiction.

Let there be no confusion: the SAF are one of the two warring parties. Following the military’s seizure of power in October 2021, and the overthrow of the civilian transitional government that derailed Sudan’s civilian-led transition, they have played a central role in the ensuing conflict and instability. Their actions have directly contributed to Sudan’s suspension from the African Union, underscoring their illegitimacy in the eyes of the international community. The UAE is part of an international consensus when it views the SAF and the Rapid Support Forces as two warring parties.

If the SAF truly seek peace, the path is clear – come to the negotiating table that has already been extended in the form of the Jeddah Declaration and the Alps Group, among others. This war can end today if both sides agree to disengage and accept the repeated offers for talks made by the international community and trusted partners.

Rapid Support Forces commander Gen Mohamed Dagalo, then deputy head of Sudan's sovereign council, gives a media briefing in Khartoum in February last year. Reuters

Smoke rises after blasts in Khartoum amid clashes between the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary on April 15 last year. AFP

Sudanese Army soldiers at the Rapid Support Forces base in Port Sudan on April 16 last year. AFP

Black smoke covers the sky over Khartoum as clashes continued on April 19. AFP

Displaced Khartoum residents flee the city after a 24-hour truce collapsed on April 19. AFP

Foreign citizens board a plane at a French military air base in Khartoum to leave Sudan on April 23. AFP

A soldier carries a child as people evacuated from Sudan disembark from a plain at a military airport in Amman on April 24. AFP

Evacuees from Sudan sit in a military plane as they wait to be processed by Kenyan troops in Nairobi on April 24. Reuters

Sudanese refugees gather to receive humanitarian aid in Koufroun, Chad, on April 30. AFP

Sudanese Army chief Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan visits troop positions in Khartoum on May 30. AFP

Sudanese refugees at the Zabout camp in Goz Beida, Chad, on July 1. AP

Smoke rises from a fire at a lumber warehouse in southern Khartoum on June 7. AFP

People prepare to leave Khartoum during a ceasefire on June 19. AP

People sit on top of a lorry carrying furniture on the road between Khartoum and Wad Madani, Al Gezirah state, on July 18. AFP

Men load goods from Ethiopia on to a lorry in the border town of Gallabat on August 2. AFP

Sudanese Army troops ride in a military convoy accompanying the governor of Darfur State in the eastern city of Gedaref on August 30. AFP

A fire rages at a livestock market after RSF bombardment in Al Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, on September 1. AFP

People cook on a campfire at a school that has been turned into a shelter for displaced Sudanese in the northern border town of Wadi Halfa, near Egypt, on September 11. AFP

Displaced Sudanese ride on top of a lorry in Wad Madani on December 16. AFP

Sudanese refugees queue to board a lorry to go to a transit centre after crossing the border into South Sudan on February 14. AFP

People watch as fighters from the army-aligned Sudan Liberation Movement attend a graduation ceremony in the south-eastern Gedaref state on March 28. AFP

Fighters from the SLM attend a graduation ceremony in Gedaref state on March 28. AFP

The tragic reality is that the bullets and bombings killing innocent Sudanese civilians are fired by the forces of both the SAF and the RSF. It is even more disheartening to hear reports about the use of chemical weapons by the SAF during this conflict, and throughout Sudan’s history. Regrettably, both sides continue to fight, committing the very acts that have led to their sanctions from the US and others.

Meanwhile, the UAE provides medicine, food, shelter and humanitarian aid. Despite ongoing disinformation campaigns, we do not support or supply either side. We unequivocally condemn the atrocities committed by both parties and call for their immediate cessation. We remain committed to Africa’s development and prosperity. Our support for the innocent fleeing refugees – through hospitals to camps, in South Sudan and Chad, established in collaboration with their governments – will continue.

Most importantly, we will persist in playing whatever constructive role we can to help end this humanitarian catastrophe and senseless war. The people of Sudan deserve more than survival – they deserve a future built on peace and dignity. We must not look away. Our commitment is to these people and not to the warring parties.