Sudan’s army-backed government has accused Kenya of helping to supply weapons from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who have been locked in conflict with the Sudanese army since April 2023.
According to a statement released by the Sudanese foreign ministry on Tuesday, government forces recently uncovered caches of weapons in Khartoum belonging to the RSF, with some of the arms allegedly bearing Kenyan labels. “Kenya has been one of the main conduits of Emirati military supplies to the terrorist RSF militia,” the ministry alleged.
Both the army and RSF have repeatedly accused each other of receiving military assistance from foreign countries, including the UAE, Egypt, Iran, Turkey and Russia. The ongoing conflict, which pits army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against his former deputy and RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, has already claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 13 million people.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has repeatedly warned that foreign powers are exacerbating the conflict, urging an end to the flow of weapons into Sudan, though he has avoided naming specific countries. The UAE has faced numerous accusations of arming the RSF through supply routes via Chad and Libya, charges which Abu Dhabi has consistently denied, despite reports from UN experts, US lawmakers and international organisations.
The Sudanese army-backed government, which enjoys long-standing support from Egypt, has increasingly strengthened ties with Turkey, Iran and Russia since the war erupted. In March, Sudan cut diplomatic ties with the UAE, accusing it of acting as an “aggressor state” and using the RSF as a proxy to destabilise the country and exploit its resources.
Tensions with Kenya have also escalated. Sudan has criticised Kenya for allegedly providing safe haven to RSF leaders and has imposed a ban on imports from its East African neighbour. In February, RSF representatives and allied groups convened in Nairobi, where they signed a charter declaring a rival government.
The Sudanese foreign ministry claimed that Kenya had effectively admitted last week that the UAE was backing the RSF in its bid to seize Sudan’s natural resources and gain a strategic foothold on the Red Sea. This accusation stemmed from a now-deleted social media post by Kenyan government spokesman Isaac Mwaura, who wrote on June 16: “Egypt and Iran back (the Sudanese Armed Forces); the UAE backs RSF.”
Meanwhile, fierce fighting continues between the army and RSF across Sudan. On Tuesday, World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus condemned “another appalling attack” on Sudan’s battered healthcare system, reporting that more than 40 civilians had been killed in West Kordofan state.
According to the Emergency Lawyers, a volunteer group monitoring the conflict, an army drone strike struck Al-Mujlad Hospital, located over 800 kilometres southwest of Khartoum, on Saturday, causing significant civilian casualties.
