PREVIEW
The European parliament’s demand for the militia to be declared a terrorist entity will complicate EU-UAE trade talks
Breaking with earlier diplomatic caution, the European Parliament has urged the EU to add the Rapid Support Forces to its list of terrorist organisations and directly called out the United Arab Emirates for its role in Sudan’s civil war in a resolution passed by a 476 to 28 margin on 9 July.
MEPs also accused the Global Security Services Group (GSSG), an Abu Dhabi-based organisation, which has ties to the UAE ruling family and senior officials, of violating the UN arms embargo in the western Darfur region. Recent investigations by civil society groups have pointed to GSSG having recruited Colombian mercenaries to fight alongside the RSF since 2024.
It marks the first time that MEPs have called out the UAE as the leading financial and military sponsor of the Rapid Support Forces despite UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan’s serial denials and rejection of multiple reports by UN investigators, Reuters and the New York Times documenting Emirati arms deliveries to the militia. Civil society groups said that until now Abu Dhabi’s lobbying has diluted criticism of its role in Sudan’s war.
The EU Commission is currently negotiating a trade agreement with the UAE. Last November, the UAE’s Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Lana Nusseibeh directly lobbied MEPs, meeting President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, to water down a resolution on the war (AC Vol 67 No 14, The Haftar-Hemeti warlord connection catches up with Washington).
The resolution also pointed to the ongoing RSF siege of El-Obeid in North Kordofan, which eyewitnesses have warned could see atrocities against civilians on the same scale as the RSF’s siege and eventual capture of El Fasher in Darfur. Volker Türk, head of the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council said at least 45 people were killed and 41 injured in 15 drone strikes between 6 and 28 June.
Under the control of the Sudanese Armed Forces, El Obeid has been under a tightening siege for the past 18 months, with RSF fighters carrying out summary executions and launching drone strikes against filling stations and fuel depots to shut down the city’s power supplies. ‘The signs from el-Obeid are clear and unmistakable: Another human rights catastrophe is unfolding in Sudan,’ Türk told the UN council on 3 July.
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