Sudan’s ambassador to the European Union warned in November that European-made weapons were ending up on the battlefield in the African country and fueling the atrocities in the two-year-old civil war. Abdelbagi Kabeir called on EU countries to stop selling arms to the United Arab Emirates, which was investigated by a UN commission earlier this year over allegations that it was supporting a known rebel militia in the conflict.
The war in Sudan and the discovered Bulgarian shells
Sudan has been ravaged by war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) of the government in Khartoum and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group accused by human rights groups and UN experts of ethnic massacres, mass displacement and systematic sexual violence.
The UN has described the humanitarian crisis as one of the world’s largest, with tens of thousands killed since 2023 and an estimated 25 million people facing extreme hunger.
“The EU must weigh the moral balance against the trade balance,” said Kabeir, who represents Sudan’s internationally recognized government in Khartoum. He gave a wide-ranging interview to Politico in which he criticized the bloc’s ties with the UAE.
UN experts are investigating the UAE’s role in supplying arms to RSF — charges Abu Dhabi denies. An extensive France24 investigation in April this year traced ammunition manufactured in Bulgaria (“an EU member with a thriving arms industry,” Politico points out) from its sale to the UAE to the hands of paramilitary fighters in Sudan, despite a long-standing EU arms embargo on the African country.
Kabeir said the EU was “bound by its own values” to ensure that its weapons were not re-exported to war zones like Sudan. “These weapons were not intended for use by third countries,” he said, adding that the allegations put the bloc in a “very uncomfortable situation.”
Bulgaria confirmed to UN investigators that it had exported mortar shells to the UAE in 2019, but said it had not authorised any re-exports to Sudan. The foreign ministry in Sofia did not respond to a request for comment from the Brussels-based publication.
The UAE’s role
Last month, the British government also confirmed that UK-made military equipment had been found in Sudan, and in November last year, Amnesty International reported alleged cases of RSF fighters using UAE-made armoured vehicles containing French military systems.
Following the Amnesty report, French defense company Lacroix, which produced the systems with KNDS France, said it “confirms that it has supplied GALIX self-defense systems to the UAE armed forces.” The company added that it did so “in strict compliance with export licenses” and related re-export prohibition certificates.
The UAE ordered more than 21 billion euros worth of weapons from France between 2015 and 2024, making it one of the largest buyers of French weapons, according to a government report published earlier this year.
A UAE government official said Abu Dhabi “categorically rejects any allegations of providing any form of support to any of the warring parties since the beginning of the civil war,” adding that it “condemns the atrocities” committed by both sides in the conflict.
“There is no solid evidence that the UAE has provided any support to RSF or has any involvement in the conflict,” the official said. It stressed that “the UAE implements a comprehensive and strict export control regime in line with its applicable obligations under international law, including arms control.”
Warm EU-UAE ties
European Council President Antonio Costa visited Abu Dhabi in late October, calling the UAE “an important and reliable partner for the EU: for the prosperity, stability and security of our regions and beyond.” EU Commissioner for the Mediterranean, Dubravka Šuica, will also visit Gulf states next month, including the UAE, an anonymous EU source told Politico.
Kabeir said the EU should use its diplomatic influence and the upcoming visit to pressure UAE officials “to stop sending arms to RSF.”
“What is happening in sub-Saharan Africa is reflected in the Mediterranean,” he warned, adding that instability in Sudan would spread to the rest of the region and trigger migration flows.
EU foreign affairs spokesman Anwar El-Announi said the bloc’s common position on arms exports “establishes an obligation to refuse exports if they could contribute to human rights violations, internal instability or armed conflict” and that it was the duty of member states to comply. “All third countries, in particular countries in the region that supply arms and equipment to the warring parties, must immediately end their support,” he said, adding that they “must refrain from fuelling an already explosive situation.”
The EU would use “its diplomatic means and instruments, including restrictive measures, to seek a peaceful resolution to the conflict,” El-Announi added.
Sudan seeks lifting of EU sanctions on its armed forces
In 2023, the EU imposed targeted sanctions on senior figures and companies linked to the RSF and SAF, freezing assets linked to both warring parties and reaffirming an arms embargo on Sudan that has been in place for more than 30 years. In September, the sanctions were extended for another year.
Kabeir said the EU should lift its sanctions on the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) “as soon as possible”, arguing that the measures had paralyzed the Sudanese economy and that lifting them would “pave the way for more constructive cooperation with the EU”.
He added that the EU had provided some humanitarian aid, but the amount had not met commitments and “certainly did not meet the needs of the population”. The bloc has allocated more than €273m in 2025.
“Destruction of a nation”
Both the SAF and RSF have been accused by the UN and human rights groups of serious violations, including mass killings of civilians, torture and sexual violence.
RSF fighters have been accused of massacring members of the Masalit ethnic group in Darfur last year, killing thousands and forcing tens of thousands to flee. Meanwhile, the SAF has been accused of killing civilians in densely populated urban areas with its air strikes.
“But of course, when you are on the frontline, mistakes are inevitable,” argued Sudan’s ambassador to the EU. “It is possible that an air strike on a military base may have killed some civilians by a missed shot. That can happen. That is natural when you are at war.”
The UAE government representative said Abu Dhabi “expresses concern at the brutal attacks on civilians by RSF forces in El Fasher,” as well as “the ongoing offensives by the Sudanese armed forces, which… have caused unimaginable suffering to the civilian population, which is already on the brink of collapse.” Kabeir, however, argued that the Sudanese army’s violations were isolated “incidents” and not a pattern of “deliberate targeting of civilians” – something he said RSF was doing with the support of the UAE. “This is a campaign to destroy the nation. To destroy the country,” said Sudan’s ambassador to the EU.
Illustrative Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/black-smoke-coming-from-fire-417070/
