OPINION: Somalia Must Stay Neutral in UAE’s War Against Sudan

In April 2023, war broke out in Sudan between the National Army and the Rapid Support Forces militia. Its impact has been devastating: millions have been displaced, and thousands have been killed. However, this conflict is also sustained by external actors advancing their interests in the country. The UAE, the main backer of the RSF miltia, has dedicated its resources and relationships to secure a victory for the miltia. In Somalia, it has been utilizing the Bossaso port in Puntland as a focal point in its network to transfer arms to the miltia. Emerging voices that categorically reject the UAE’s role in Somalia should continue until they achieve their goal. 

The RSF emerged primarily from the 2013 restructuring of the notorious Janjaweed militia, Its goal was to support the central government’s counterinsurgency operations in Darfur and South Kordofan. In 2017, the Sudanese parliament passed a law legitimizing its activities. The RSF militia committed countless crimes and atrocities, including the burning of villages, the killing of protesters, sexual violations and rape, unlawful detentions, the targeting of hospitals and churches, and attacks on journalists and media institutions, in addition to ethnic-based killings and recruiting children as soldiers and summary execution of civilans during the ongoing war. 

For several years, the UAE has been supporting the RSF militia with weapons, money, and even foreign fighters. After the outbreak of the war, this support significantly increased. The UAE has strong economic and political interests in Sudan that it assumes will be secured once the militia takes over power. These interests include exploiting gold and agricultural resources, seizing strategic ports in the Red Sea, and preventing the return of Islamists, its traditional political foe, to power. 

The impact of the UAE’s support has been disastrous; it enabled the militia to sustain its war in Sudan and commit several massacres and genocides in Darfur. According to the UN experts, it’s estimated that 15 thousand members of the Massalit tribe were killed by the militia based on their ethnicity. In other parts of Darfur, women were raped and abducted, and chidlren were piled up and shot to death. For months, Al-fashir city, the main refugee area in Darfur, has been besieged by the miltia. 

Since the eruption of the War, the UAE has been utilizing Bosaso airport in Puntland to support the RSF militia. For instance,  investigative reports and tracking of flights clearly show how the airport is part of the UAE’s network to funnel arms and weapons to the militia,  Moreover, news reports and videos shared by Somali social media activists expose that Colombian mercenaries are being moved to Sudan via the airport. Reportedly, Bosaso airport has also been used as a base for the recent drone attack against oil infrastructure in eastern Sudan. 

The UAE’s intervention is a stark violation of Somalia’s sovereignty. If sanctioned to continue, it could be followed in the future by more similar actions against other regional countries. In addition, it causes severe damage to the reputation of Somalia as it is now unfortunately seen as a major facilitator of the destruction of a fellow African country and the killing of its people, and indeed, putting its historical relationship with Sudan at serious risk. 

Fortunately, there has been growing awareness and a clear rejection by many Somali activists and politicians of these UAE operations at Bosaso airport, citing their crucial support for the massacres and crimes of the RSF militia in Sudan. More effort is needed to urgently push the central government to take the necessary measures to fully stop the UAE from further using Bosaso port for these illegal military activities.

Unlike the UAE, which strongly endorses and even funds separatist voices in Somalia, Sudan, on the other hand, has always favored the unity of its territory. Therefore, Somalia has a vested interest in ensuring that the UAE’s ally is defeated and does not gain power in Sudan, preventing any shift in its foreign policy influenced by its sponsor. 

Mohamed Suliman is an independent Sudanese journalist who has been covering Sudan’s civil war since 2022