UAE arms supplies to Sudanese militia unaffected by Iran’s strikes

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is re-organising its shipments to the Sudanese Rapid Support Force (RSF) militia. RSF has been waging a genocidal civil war in Sudan since 2023 with the UAE as its main military backer. The Canary reported on 12 March how the Iranian response to the US-Israeli attack had forced UAE to reorganise how it supplied its proxies in Sudan.

Le Monde reported on 23 March that the UAE is using new covert routes to get weapons into the east African state. The French outlet identified:

a network of cargo flights departing the UAE for East and Central Africa, including Ethiopia and the Central African Republic, believed to be part of an arms supply chain to the RSF.

Le Monde reported that two cargo planes linked to the UAE royal family—including an aircraft now owned by a UAE citizen in Africa—has made a series of flights from the Gulf petrostate to Ethiopia. Ethiopia is believed to be home to an RSF supply base.

The paper said one aircraft had been:

previously owned by Gewan Airways, a company linked to a conglomerate controlled by the brother of UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed, and has previously been flagged for its role in supplying the RSF.

The other cargo plane:

is now operated by Invicta Air Cargo, a company established in 2025 in the Central African Republic by a UAE national. Despite attempts to obscure links, the company’s website reportedly connects back to Gewan Airways.

New Arab explained:

The flights suggest the UAE is expanding logistical routes through neighbouring countries, including Ethiopia, where it is reported to have established a training camp for RSF fighters in 2025.

Colonial shadow war

UAE has been a major backer of RSF in its war with the Sudanese government. Turkey, Egypt, Israel and many more countries are pursuing their own interests in Sudan too. British military components has also shown up on the battlefield in RSF hands. The UK is a major arms supplier to UAE.

As the Canary has said in our previous coverage of this poorly-understood genocidal war:

The war in Sudan is theoretically between the Arab supremacist RSF and the Sudanese government. But foreign states pursuing their own interests are backing the combatants. The United Arab Emirates (UAE), for example, backs the RSF with arms and equipment. Egypt backs the government, alongside Russia, Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. Israel has backed both sides at different times.

The mounting death toll is similarly mindboggling:

RSF has killed Sudanese civilians in vast numbers. And some estimates say 150,000 people have died and over 10mn have been displaced by fighting.

UAE appears determined to keep arming its proxy force in Sudan despite the impacts of Iran’s strikes on Gulf states which harbour American infrastructure. Meanwhile, the people of Sudan find themselves living—and dying—at a nexus of competing local and colonial interests.

Featured image via the Canary