How the UAE Arms Sudan's RSF

Abu Dhabi has built a sprawling, covert logistics network to funnel advanced weaponry and mercenaries to Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces.

The clandestine airlift operates across multiple African borders, sustaining a paramilitary offensive that has devastated the nation.

United Nations investigators and Western intelligence confirm the United Arab Emirates is the primary foreign architect of the RSF supply chain.

Despite repeated denials from Emirati officials, the operation represents a systemic violation of U.N. Darfur arms embargoes.

Sudan has subsequently taken the UAE to the International Court of Justice over the covert military pipeline.

The supply structure is highly lucrative, financed by the illicit extraction of Darfur gold, which is smuggled directly into Dubai markets.

Between November 2024 and February 2025 alone, Sudanese authorities tracked 248 Emirati-chartered cargo flights executing the resupply mission.

The shipments deliver Chinese-made GB50A guided bombs, AH-4 howitzers, armored vehicles, and mortars directly to the paramilitary group.

Expanding African Transit Routes

The geographic footprint of the Emirati air bridge is constantly shifting to evade regional intervention.

Operations initially centered on Chad’s Amdjarass airport before pivoting to the Haftar-controlled Kufra airbase in Libya.

To maintain the logistics flow, Abu Dhabi redirected cargo traffic back to eastern Chad.

Intelligence sources indicate Emirati contractors executed major structural expansions at the Amdjarass facility.

The site now features drone hangars, an advanced military operations room, and runways capable of receiving massive Ilyushin transport aircraft.

Simultaneously, new supply arteries are emerging across the Horn of Africa.

Cargo aircraft now utilize a recently opened flight corridor through Ethiopia.

Ground shipments are staged in the Somali ports of Berbera and Bosaso before moving overland into Sudanese territory

Meanwhile, direct night deliveries, known as ghost flights, drop materiel straight into RSF-held Nyala in South Darfur.

Mercenaries and Military Infrastructure

The UAE extends its operational support far beyond hardware deliveries. The RSF utilizes multiple military installations across eastern Libya, including Camp 17 near Benghazi, to train its fighters.

Defectors confirm these camps serve as primary distribution hubs for Emirati tactical vehicles, fuel supplies, and heavy munitions.

Foreign combatants are actively integrated into the RSF command structure.

Investigators have tracked Colombian mercenaries operating within the Libyan training facilities.

These fighters are contracted through Global Security Services Group, a private security firm with documented ties to the Emirati government.

Western powers, including the U.S. and the UK, have largely refrained from directly challenging Abu Dhabi over the covert arms flow.

Weapons tracers have repeatedly matched serial numbers from the battlefield to arms originating in Bulgaria, China, and Britain.

As the illicit flights continue, the RSF maintains the critical logistical lifeline required to wage a protracted war of attrition.