UAE to send aid worth $5 million to Sudan
The UAE has pledged to deliver $5 million in aid to Sudan, as reported by The National via state news agency Wam on January 21st.
The deal was signed between the UAE Aid Agency and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and is intended to strengthen the emergency humanitarian response to the civil war in Sudan, which has killed 40,000 people since April 2023.
According to Ahmed Al Ameri, the UAE Aid Agency chairman, “The UAE remains committed to supporting international efforts to meet pressing humanitarian needs and save lives in conflict-ridden areas.”
Since 2023, the UAE has provided $784 million in aid to Sudan, which has been embroiled in a conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Despite the UAE’s support for humanitarian aid in Sudan, the UAE has been accused of funding the RSF, which has been accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Although the UAE denies these claims, UN investigators have presented reports and evidence suggesting that the Gulf country has provided extensive financial and logistical support to the RSF through military and intelligence bases across the Red Sea and the Horn of Africa.
In May 2025, Sudan’s Defence and Security Council announced it would cut diplomatic ties with the UAE over its alleged backing of the RSF, recalling the Sudanese ambassador from Abu Dhabi.
Some believe the RSF to be the successors of the Janjaweed (“Devils on Horseback”) militia that committed genocide against ethnic Africans in the Western Darfur region, who sought to end systematic racial oppression and centralised power by the Arab-Sudanese government.
Between August 2003 and March 2004, at least 300,000 people were killed when the government deployed scorched-earth tactics, raids and aerial bombing campaigns, while the Janjaweed went from village to village committing atrocities, including torture, murder and rape as a weapon of war.
It was reported in October 2025 that human rights and aid groups described RSF killings as a “continuation of the Darfur genocide“, while in April of the same year, Sudan formally accused the UAE of complicity in genocide.
However, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) dismissed Sudan’s case against the UAE on May 5th, ruling that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the dispute.
The National via Wam, Maghrebi.org
Want to chase the pulse of North Africa?
Subscribe to receive our FREE weekly PDF magazine
