Host for UAE's Sky News Arabia hugs RSF officer accused of inciting rape in el-Fasher

The UAE-owned Sky News Arabia channel has caused a stir after it sent one of its reporters to Sudan’s el-Fasher, where she met with a Rapid Support Forces (RSF) officer accused of inciting sexual violence towards Sudanese women. 

Tsabih Mubarak was in the capital of North Darfur over the weekend to report for Sky News Arabia on its recent capture by the paramilitary RSF, which has been at war with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) since April 2023.

The RSF carried out mass killings and abuses as it stormed el-Fasher two weeks ago, some of which was documented by its own fighters and have been corroborated by satellite imagery. Multiple survivors told MEE that paramilitary fighters raped, murdered and assaulted civilians. 

Mubarak posted pictures and videos on her social media accounts meeting with women and children in the city.

In one picture, she wipes a tear away from a distraught woman's face. In a video shared on X, she is seen taking a selfie as locals gather around to wave and cheer. 

In another video, she is seen smiling, gesturing a thumbs-up and taking a selfie video with a female RSF officer - named online as Shiraz Khalid. Mubarak tells her: “This is our country, we are with you.”

Last week, a viral video showed the same RSF officer stating that the paramilitary group would go from el-Fasher to other major cities and regions in Sudan under army control, including Omudrman, Port Sudan and Northern state. 

“The Northern state! It's something else. You will all head there only for the women, to cleanse their lineage,” the RSF officer said. 

The Arab-dominated paramilitary group has been accused by the US government and multiple human rights groups of committing genocide against members of the Masalit community and their forces have been seen in videos from el-Fasher calling Black people “slaves”.

"I’ve never heard any woman, let alone a hijabi, rally her countrymen to rape the women of an opposing group," Monica Marks, a professor at NYU Abu Dhabi, wrote on social media about the female officer's remarks.

Access to el-Fasher is tightly controlled by the RSF, with an earthen wall - a makeshift barrier constructed around the city - controlling access in and out of the city. 

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Satellite imagery last week showed that an exit route built into the berm was closed off, blocking more than 200,000 civilians in the city from fleeing. 

For Mubarak to have entered el-Fasher, which was under an RSF siege for over 500 days before it was captured, she would have almost certainly required approval from the paramilitary. 

Middle East Eye has reached out to Sky News Arabia and Mubarak for comment.

Her presence in el-Fasher has been heavily criticised by Sudanese figures and social media users. 

"Sky News Arabia runs cover for the RSF militia as it slaughters Sudanese civilians," said Ammar Mahmoud, Sudan's representative at the United Nations. "The ICC should take note."

Mubarak is married to Ibrahim al-Mirghani, a Sudanese politician who has sided with the RSF during the war and was a co-signatory of an alliance that made way for a parallel RSF-led government.

UAE connection

In recent days, Mubarak has posted online in defence of the UAE, hitting back at criticism of its role in Sudan. 

The Sky News Arabia presenter wrote: “Holding the UAE or others responsible for [the Sudan war] is a leap over the facts and an attempt to whitewash an old and ongoing present history (since 1989) whose title is the alliance of the army with the Islamic Movement (Sudan's Brotherhood).”

Several Emirati influencers have taken to social media in the past week to link the Sudanese Armed Forces with the Muslim Brotherhood. 

Mubarak shared a post on X on Monday which stated that her visit to el-Fasher was a "a powerful blow to the Muslim Brotherhood's project and their media rooms, as the Islamists' project is based on misinformation, blackout, fabrications, and deception!"

She also shared a picture of a UAE skyline and flag, defending the country against accusations of complicity in Sudan, with the hashtag “TheEmiratesWithSudan”. 

Nadim Koteich, the general manager of Sky News Arabia, also posted a video last week pushing back against UAE involvement in Sudan. 

Sky News Arabia, along with Saudi-owned outlets Al Arabiya and Al Hadath, were suspended by Sudan’s government in April last year over “lack of commitment to the required professionalism and transparency and failure to renew its licences”. 

The regional news channel is a joint venture between the UK’s Sky Group, and the UAE’s International Media Investments (IMI). 

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IMI is controlled by Mansour bin Zayed al-Nayhan, the vice president of the UAE and brother of President Mohammed bin Zayed. Mansour is also the owner of Manchester City football club. 

According to a report in the New York Times, citing American officials, Mansour has played a central role in efforts to arm RSF chief Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti. 

Middle East Eye reported in January 2024 that the UAE was supplying the RSF with weapons through a complex network of supply lines and alliances stretching across Libya, Chad and Uganda. More recently, MEE has reported on the existence of two Emirati bases inside Sudan, as well as the use of Bosaso, on Somalia's coast, as part of the UAE's supply line to the RSF.

Sudan's war began in April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between the SAF, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the RSF, commanded by Hemedti, spiralled into open conflict.

The violence was triggered by disagreements over plans to integrate the RSF into the regular army, but quickly descended into a nationwide war that has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 13 million.

Since the war began, RSF fighters have been accused of widespread massacres and abuses, including a genocide in Darfur. The SAF has also been accused of war crimes.