UAE sentences eight people to life over arms supplies to Sudan’s army

A court in the United Arab Emirates has sentenced eight people to ⁠life imprisonment over ⁠arms trafficking and money laundering to Sudan’s army, state media report.

The individuals supplied weapons and military equipment to the Sudanese army and were part of a money-laundering network connecting the two countries, the Emirati state-run news agency WAM said on Thursday.

It said the Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal concluded on Thursday that the convicted individuals had participated in an integrated scheme for the illicit trafficking of weapons, ammunition and military equipment.

The accused were also found to have forged documents using companies and bank accounts in the UAE to channel funds relating to the arms deals and “conceal” their sources and destinations.

The court ordered the confiscation of ammunition and communications devices used in the crimes and the deportation of those convicted from the UAE after serving their sentences, WAM reported.

The “arms deals, money laundering endangered UAE interests”, the court order said.

Ties between the UAE and ⁠Sudan have deteriorated ⁠as the Sudanese military has accused Abu Dhabi of supplying arms ⁠to its rival in Sudan’s civil war, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group, which it has been fighting ‌since April 2023. The UAE has denied ‌the ‌allegation.

The war has displaced more than 14 million people and created severe poverty and food shortages.

This week, more than 100 people – mostly women and children – were killed when military drones hit a busy city market frequented by RSF fighters in the city of Nyala in the western region of Darfur.

Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, said a second attack hit a civilian neighbourhood. MSF said a hospital it supports in Nyala received 36 bodies in the hours after that attack, 21 of them wearing civilian clothing, and its teams saw more than 150 wounded in the emergency room.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has previously accused the RSF of carrying out war crimes and a possible crime against humanity in its takeover of el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, after forcing Sudan’s army to withdraw from its last stronghold in the Darfur region.