UK allowed arms exports to UAE after being told weapons given to RSF

The British government approved weapons exports to the United Arab Emirates even after being told that the UAE had diverted UK military equipment to paramilitaries accused of committing genocide in Sudan, it has emerged.

It was reported last month that British-manufactured small-arms target systems and engines for armoured personnel carriers were found in Rapid Support Forces (RSF) hands in combat zones in Sudan.

MEE has previously revealed that the UAE provides the RSF militia with extensive logistical and military support.

The UN Security Council, of which Britain is a member, received information in March alleging that the UAE may have supplied British-made arms to the RSF, according to the Guardian.

But it has now emerged that Britain then continued to approve exports to the UAE for military equipment.

Official government arms export data, released last week, reveals that Britain licenced £172 million ($225m) in military equipment exported to the UAE between April and June this year. 

£1,966,582 of exports were in the military vehicles and components category.

'UK arms exports are out of control'

Emily Apple, media coordinator at Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), said: "These new figures are horrific. UK arms exports are out of control.

"Despite clear evidence that UK military equipment is used to commit the most appalling war crimes in Gaza and Sudan, this government is refusing to take action."

Apple continued: "Our government knows that the UAE is diverting military equipment to the RSF for its war crimes.

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"This is an export system that lacks accountability, designed to safeguard the profits of arms dealers, no matter the cost."

Middle East Eye has asked the British Foreign Office for comment.

The dossiers presented to the UN Security Council were compiled by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), which has been battling the Rapid Support Forces since April 2023, and contain "evidence of UAE support" for the RSF.

They contained images of small-arms target devices recovered from former RSF sites in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, and its twin city Omdurman.

The images were reportedly marked with labels indicating the devices were made by Militec, a manufacturer based in Mid Glamorgan in Wales.

The UK has granted numerous licences to Militec, along with 13 other companies, to export items to the UAE since 2013.

Militec declined a request for comment by the Guardian.

Calls for an arms embargo

The Liberal Democrats and the Green Party, as well as MPs from Labour, the Independent Alliance and the Scottish National Party, told MEE last month that the UK should suspend arms sales to the UAE.

Mike Lewis, a researcher and former member of the UN panel of experts on Sudan, said: “UK and treaty law straightforwardly obliges the government not to authorise arms exports where there is a clear risk of diversion – or use in international crimes.

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“Security Council investigators have documented in detail the UAE’s decade-long history of diverting arms to embargoed countries and to forces violating international humanitarian law.”

The new statistics come after RSF forces seized the city of el-Fasher in the Darfur region on 26 October, with reports and videos showing fighters engaged in widespread summary killings.

The 260,000 inhabitants of el-Fasher had been starved under siege for 18 months before the RSF assault.

Testimonies and reports from the city since then point to widespread killings of civilians, with RSF forces accused of murder, sexual violence and expulsions. 

Darfur Governor Minni Minnawi told Middle East Eye last week that 27,000 people had been massacred by RSF fighters after the city fell.

Since the war in Sudan broke out in 2023 over plans to dissolve the RSF and merge it into the regular military, the paramilitary group has been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity by rights groups and UN investigators.

The US and several human rights groups have accused the RSF of committing genocide against the Masalit community in West Darfur earlier in the conflict.