Is the UAE destroying Sudan for gold and grain?

medium nocaption113066405He’s a Grammy winner, a top rapper with a hit track titled ‘Hind’s Hall’ that goes:Destroyin’ every college in Gaza and every mosquePushin’ everyone into Rafah and droppin’ bombsThe blood is on your hands, Biden, we can see it allAnd f$@k no, I’m not votin’ for you in the fallWith a song like that, Macklemore the rapper could have looked forward to a very successful Dubai tour in October, but he called it off. Why? Because he says the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has a hand in the “ongoing genocide and humanitarian crisis” in Sudan.Macklemore was due to perform at Dubai’s Coca-Cola Arena on October 4, but he changed his mind in late August. “If I take the money while knowing it doesn’t sit right with my spirit, how am I any different from the politicians I’ve been actively protesting against,” the 41-year-old said.Besides Hind’s Hall, which pays tribute to a six-year-old girl named Hind Rajab, who was killed in Gaza, Macklemore has other socially and politically conscious tracks to his credit that address issues like drug addiction, consumerism and gay rights. But how right is he about the UAE’s role in Sudan’s troubles? medium113054385Long warSudan’s army (SAF) under Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and a rebel group called Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagolo, a.k.a. Hemedti, have been engaged in a long and bloody war for supremacy. The BBC says 10 million people have been forced to flee their homes since the war started in April 2023. About two million of them have become refugees in neighbouring countries like Chad and Egypt.By some accounts, the RSF is funded and supported by the UAE. Last year, The New York Times investigated the UAE’s role in a report. It said: “Under the guise of saving refugees, the United Arab Emirates is running an elaborate covert operation to back one side in Sudan’s spiralling war – supplying powerful weapons and drones, treating injured fighters and airlifting the most serious cases to one of its military hospitals.”Sudan’s ambassador to the UN has also said the UAE’s support to the RSF is the “main reason behind this protracted war”. The UAE, of course, denies this. When Macklemore cancelled his show, the UAE government termed his allegations “baseless and unfounded”. medium nocaption113061189Ethnic angleAs Sudan lies in northeastern Africa, its population is a mix of Arabic and non-Arabic people. The RSF represents people of Arabic extraction while Sudan’s police and military mainly comprise the non-Arab Massalit people. Both sides have been fighting to grab land for decades. The latest round of hostilities also seemingly started over a land feud that left two Arab nomads dead. Long before the RSF, an Arab militia called the Janjaweed had struck terror among Sudan’s non-Arabs. It was accused of genocide in the early 2000s. Many RSF troops were originally members of the Janjaweed, so it’s not surprising that the militia has been accused of sexual violence and ethnic cleansing in the areas that it controls.The BBC cites a Human Rights Watch report that says the RSF may have committed genocide against non-Arabs, but the group denies this.Terrible sufferingThe long war and displacement of people have created famine-like conditions. The BBC says the fertile regions of Gezira and Sennar along the Blue Nile river have been devastated: “People there are going hungry for the first time in generations.”While almost half of Sudan’s 45 million people urgently need aid, it is feared that some 2.5 million Sudanese are at risk of death by starvation in the coming weeks. medium113055533Gold and foodIf the allegations of the UAE’s involvement in Sudan’s crisis are true, why is it throwing money on a war in an impoverished country?Reports suggest the UAE may be after Sudan’s gold ore and the possibility of using its fertile regions for its own food supplies. The NYT last year said, “Like many Gulf countries, the Emirates sees Sudan as a potential source of food, and covets a position on its Red Sea coastline. In December (2022), the Emirates signed a $6 billion deal to develop a port 125 miles north of Port Sudan.” The BBC says gold deposits in Sudan’s western Darfur region might be a bigger attraction for the UAE: “Darfur is rich in gold – and there are accusations Janjaweed incursions are part of attempts to gain control of more land for prospecting… The RSF controls some of Sudan’s most lucrative gold mines, located in the Darfur region… A Swiss aid organisation alleges the Emiratis are importing billions of dollars worth of the precious metal that is smuggled out of Africa, including Sudan,” various BBC reports over the past two years have claimed.Extent of involvementSome drones that the RSF used against the SAF seem to be a smoking gun for the UAE’s involvement. A weapons expert from Amnesty International said the UAE had earlier supplied the same type of drones to its allies in Ethiopia and Yemen.So, is the UAE, a small country, aspiring to become a colonial power in Africa like Britain in the 1700s and 1800s? It does seem to have ambitions beyond its immediate neighbourhood. As the NYT said last year, the Sudan crisis “is the latest example of how the Emirates, an American ally in the Persian Gulf, has been using its vast wealth and sophisticated armoury to position itself as a key player and sometimes kingmaker across Africa… As an increasingly active player on the African continent, the Emirates has signed business deals worth tens of billions of dollars to develop mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for carbon credits in Liberia and to control ports in Tanzania, Somalia and Sudan.”Can Macklemore stop war?No, he can’t stop the war, but if more artistes follow him, the UAE might relent, experts say. It’s a country that worries a lot about its global reputation, and Macklemore’s decision has suddenly turned the spotlight on the Sudan war, which had not drawn global attention the same way as Ukraine and Gaza have. A London-based activist told the BBC that people are suddenly asking, “oh, my God, what’s happening in Sudan?”