UAE-backed Sudanese militia amasses property Empire in Dubai

The Sudanese Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia has secretly amassed a vast multimillion-dollar property portfolio in Dubai, recently exposed by the investigative outlet Sentry.

The genocidal RSF is backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a UK ally and major arms customer, and has carried out a litany of unforgivable atrocities in Sudan.

US investigative outlet Sentry reported details of the multi-million portfolio, owned and enjoyed by RSF chiefs and aligned individuals:

A network of family members, sanctioned individuals, and entities linked to the leadership of Sudan’s brutal Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia owns a $24 million real estate portfolio in Dubai consisting of over 20 properties.

Sentry said:

These properties shed further light on the RSF’s relationship with the UAE. While the UAE adamantly denies supporting the RSF, this investigation is the fourth alert by The Sentry that reveals the intricate connections between the Dagalo family, the RSF, and the UAE.

The Dagalo family includes RSF commander Mohammad Hamdan Dagalo Musa, known as Hemedti, and his brothers.

A sorely underreported war

As the Canary has previously reported, the 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 conflict:

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 mind boggling:

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.

You can read more of our reporting on RSF and Sudan here.

Thousands held in RSF detention camps

Al Jazeera reported on 27 April that thousands of civilian are trapped in RSF detention camps. The NGO Sudan Doctors Network claimed:

RSF is reportedly committing “severe violations” inside the detention centres in el-Fasher, “including killings during torture and interrogation, as well as ethnically motivated killings”.

The group reports that 370 women and 426 children are among those held in facilities including Shalla Prison, a children’s hospital, and cargo containers.

A recent UK media report singled out the UK for having abandoned Sudanese civilians, leaving them to fate to “avoid pissing off the Emiratis [UAE].”

The authors warned this wasn’t just a matter of generalised humanitarian failure. The UK – and US – were key players in the eventual massacre:

To frame El Fasher within the timeworn narrative of collective international failure avoids the darker truth.

Decisions were taken that ensured help never came. Both the US and UK suppressed or sidelined warnings that would have helped avoid the slaughter.

And they said that when it comes to it, the British government will have few excuses:

Central to the UK’s approach was the Joint Analysis of Conflict and Stability (Jacs), conceived to assess whether genocide was likely and, if so, intervene suitably.

The UK’s own intelligence, sources confirm, said the RSF wanted to “eliminate” the city’s non-Arab population.

Sudan has not drawn the same intense media coverage that other conflicts have. This may be why the UK has escaped the level of criticism over Sudan that it has attracted over its complicity in the Gaza genocide.

The fact remains that the UK’s involvement is a shameful, born of indifference, politicking, and an enduring colonial attitude to Sudanese lives.

Featured image via the Canary