The American approach in Sudan: an embargo (and impunity) for all

The war in Sudan between the central government in Khartoum and militias backed by the United Arab Emirates has now spread beyond the country’s borders. Chad has reported that on 20 August, Turkish-made drones belonging to the Sudanese government crossed into its territory by around 100 kilometres and destroyed a convoy of nearly 200 pick-up trucks. Khartoum has admitted to having destroyed a supply convoy coming from Kufra, the airbase in southern Libya that has for years been supplying the war effort of the UAE-backed Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Over the past three years, the existence of the airlift route running from the Gulf state to Libya, Chad and Ethiopia, before heading to Sudan, has been extensively documented by international organisations – such as the United Nations Panel of Experts – and non-governmental organisations. In October last year, when they captured the city of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, massacring thousands of civilians after a siege lasting several months, the RSF made use of precisely this supply route passing through Kufra. Other direct flights from Abu Dhabi have landed directly in Chad, at the airports of Amdjarass and N’Djamena, and at Bole Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. For this reason, the government of Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who has led Sudan since the 2021 coup, considers that striking the supply routes – even beyond the country’s borders – of those guilty of massacring innocent civilians is a form of self-defence.

Although the United Nations accuses the RSF of committing genocide in Darfur, on Wednesday the United States instead publicly condemned the Sudanese Armed Forces for the August raid. “The United States condemns the recent air strikes by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in Chad. The violence must cease in Sudan and elsewhere. There is no military solution to this conflict and there is no justification for extending the violence beyond Sudan’s borders,” wrote Massad Boulos, the White House’s envoy to Africa, on X. The statement by Donald Trump’s father-in-law has sparked anger in Khartoum, which accuses the White House of openly defending the RSF and their Emirati allies.

To make matters worse, last Monday, Boulos himself, on behalf of the US government, put forward a proposal to the United Nations Security Council to amend the current arms embargo on Sudan, which has been in force since 2005. The new US proposal aims to extend the embargo from Darfur alone to the whole country. The underlying philosophy is that neither of the two parties involved in the conflict – neither the RSF nor the Khartoum government, recognised by the international community – should be allowed to arm itself. Behind this naïve interpretation, many international observers see instead a clear strategy on the part of the United States: to prevent even the RSF’s enemies, namely the Sudanese government, from defending the population against massacres such as the one in El Fasher. According to Amgad Fareid Eltayeb, a Sudanese activist and political analyst, if the US proposal were to go ahead, ‘it would reduce the ability to defend civilians, international accountability would be weakened, and the RSF’s capacity to commit human rights violations would increase’. And so, a measure that is supposed to monitor breaches of the embargo and punish offenders is transformed into a tool to hinder oversight and increase the ability of those committing violations to do so.”

As to why the Americans are so keen to extend the arms embargo to the whole of Sudan, it is widely believed that this stems from Washington’s staunch defence of its Emirati allies. Although the airlift from Abu Dhabi to Sudan’s neighbouring countries has been proven by satellite imagery and cargo flight tracking, the United States has never intervened to condemn the Gulf state, nor has there been any statement to date in which Washington specifically refers directly to the United Arab Emirates’ involvement in the war in Sudan. Yesterday, a Turkish drone – which, according to the Sudanese government, was part of one of the ‘shipments’ delivered by Abu Dhabi to Ethiopia, which supports the RSF – was shot down after crossing into the Blue Nile state in Sudan. No US statement has been issued condemning the attack.

Meanwhile, the publication of the UN experts’ report is drawing nearer; this report is expected to set out in black and white all the violations of the embargo identified to date. It appears that the UAE lobby in New York has already taken steps to block the adoption of the report within the UN Security Council.