How the UAE Is Fueling the War in Sudan

The UAE is accused of sustaining Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces through gold trading and logistics, enabling weapons purchases and frontline operations (image source)

The war in Sudan is not only fought with guns and militias; it is sustained through an invisible economy stretching far beyond the country’s borders. At its centre is the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where trading houses and logistics firms have become lifelines for the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), enabling the paramilitary to turn smuggled gold into hard cash and re-equip itself even as civilians suffer catastrophic losses.

Investigations by watchdog groups such as The Sentry and corroborating regional media reports reveal how Dubai-based companies act as conduits for Sudanese gold. These firms, some already sanctioned, buy raw gold from RSF-controlled mines and move it into the global supply chain. The proceeds are funnelled back to RSF commanders or their proxies, financing weapons, vehicle parts, and frontline logistics.

This is not an abstract financial network. Spare parts imported via Gulf intermediaries are used to convert Toyota pickups into “technicals”—the armed trucks dominating Sudan’s battlefields. In villages across Darfur, these technicals have left a trail of death and displacement. For one mother, whose two sons were killed when her community was attacked, the “gold-to-gun pipeline” is not a geopolitical metaphor; it is the lived reality of her loss.

Khartoum has accused Abu Dhabi of complicity, filing a case at the International Court of Justice, alleging Emirati ties to the RSF amount to material support for atrocities. The UAE has denied the accusations, framing itself as a neutral power seeking peace and humanitarian relief. Yet the discrepancy between diplomatic rhetoric and documented trade flows raises stark questions about its credibility as a mediator.

The human toll is grim: tens of thousands killed, over 10 million displaced, and an economy in ruins. Displaced families describe towns once thriving with seasonal markets now turned into silent ruins. Aid workers report convoys of armed vehicles often modified through Gulf-sourced supply chains, blocking humanitarian corridors. For civilians, these commercial flows are as deadly as bullets: every gold shipment passing through Dubai, every spare part exported from a Sharjah warehouse, represents a fuel line that keeps the RSF war machine running.

The UAE’s interest in Sudan is long-standing, encompassing gold reserves, fertile farmland, and Red Sea ports. Yet official statements position it as a broker of stability. Analysts point to weak enforcement, corporate secrecy in UAE free-trade zones, and global buyers’ willingness to overlook tainted supply chains as reasons international sanctions have failed to halt these flows.

Ending Sudan’s war will require more than ceasefires. Investigators and sanctions bodies must follow the corporate paper trail, probe beneficial ownership, and demand audits of gold flows through Dubai. For ordinary Sudanese, the stakes could not be higher: without accountability, foreign profiteering will continue to convert their pain into dividends. True peace depends not only on silencing the guns but also on dismantling the economic networks that make those guns affordable.