The UAE responds to a UN report accusing it of supporting the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan

The mission said, in a statement commenting on the latest report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan, that the UAE supports the work of investigative mechanisms established by the United Nations in cases related to serious violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, as a means to enhance accountability and combat impunity.

The UAE renewed its condemnation of the violations committed by the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, affirming its commitment to the sanctions regime approved by the Security Council, and calling for expanding the arms embargo to include all Sudanese territory and stopping all forms of external military support to the warring parties without exception.

It also called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, the adoption of an urgent humanitarian truce, and the launch of a comprehensive political process led by civilian forces and independent of both parties to the conflict and extremist groups.

The statement came after a report by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission entitled “Fueling Conflict in Sudan: Arms, Fighters and External Support Networks,” which concluded that there were reasonable grounds to believe that cross-border networks facilitated the transfer of weapons, fighters, training and logistical supplies to the Rapid Support Forces, including via routes linking entities and individuals in the UAE, Chad, southeastern Libya and Puntland in Somalia.

The report stressed that these results represent investigative conclusions based on the criterion of “reasonable grounds for belief.”

According to the report, the mission documented the deployment of up to two thousand former Colombian military contractors who participated in operating combat drones, artillery, and advanced systems alongside the Rapid Support Forces in Darfur and Kordofan. It also indicated that external supplies strengthened the capabilities of both parties to the conflict in the field of drones, enabling them to carry out long-range strikes that resulted in civilian casualties and damage to vital installations.

The report explained that a drone attack attributed to the Rapid Support Forces in Kadugli, South Kordofan State, resulted in the killing of 114 people, including about 60 children, while the mission concluded that there were reasonable grounds to believe that drone strikes carried out by the Sudanese Armed Forces targeted Al Daein Teaching Hospital in East Darfur, which led to the killing of at least 70 people, the injury of 146 others, and the hospital being taken out of service.