How the UAE continued supporting Sudan's RSF through Haftar and Libya

AI Summary

An investigation reveals that the UAE continues to support Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) via military camps and arms transfers through Libya, despite official denials. The training and supply of weapons occur in collaboration with Libyan forces under Khalifa Haftar amidst ongoing conflicts in Sudan.

How the UAE continued supporting Sudan's RSF through Haftar and Libya Oscar Rickett on Tue, 06/30/2026 - 12:10 Sudanese paramilitary fighters are being trained in Libya, new investigation finds, as UAE continues to deny involvement Libyan army vehicles take part in the "Dara’ al-Karama 2" military exercises, conducted by the Libyan National Army, under the command of Khalifa Haftar, in the Ras al-Alba region in southeastern Libya on 16 May 2026 (AFP) Off Sudanese, Egyptian and Libyan sources have revealed the shifting nature of the United Arab Emirates’ support for the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) through Libya, as a new investigation has uncovered the presence of military camps training RSF fighters there. Despite the pressure brought on Abu Dhabi by the war on Iran and an Egyptian bombing campaign targeting RSF weapons convoys that originate in Libya, the UAE and Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF) are still supporting the Sudanese paramilitary group, which has been widely accused of genocide. Fighters from the RSF are also being trained to use weapons supplied by the UAE at military camps across Libya, a joint investigation from Lighthouse Reports, Sudan War Monitor and Evident revealed on Monday. Defectors from the RSF and sources from the LAAF said that the five camps identified by investigators were also used to provide the Sudanese paramilitary with logistical support, including fuel and pickup trucks. An RSF defector, identified as Ahmed, said the weapons and other supplies were “all Emirati”. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); “Emirates is the one supporting the RSF. They would bring it from their country by a plane to here and from here we would receive them and deliver them to Sudan,” he said. Ahmed was one of seven RSF defectors in Libya who participated in training camps or smuggling operations.  Middle East Eye has reported extensively on collaboration between the LAAF – particularly its Subul al-Salam brigade - and the RSF, and on the supply of weapons through the border triangle region that straddles Chad, Libya and Sudan.  Since the war in Sudan between the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) began in April 2023, the RSF has collaborated with Haftar’s forces, which are supported and supplied by the UAE.  Four newly-identified sites believed to be RSF training camps (© 2026 MapTiler / OpenStreetMap contributors/ via Avaaz / Lighthouse Reports/ Evident/ Sudan War Monitor) (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Both the UAE and the LAAF have denied any involvement in the war in Sudan. In a statement, the Emirati foreign ministry said: “The UAE has not provided and is not providing military or financial support to any warring party in Sudan.” The RSF also denies being supported by the UAE. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); RSF fighters training in Libya The four new camps identified by the investigation are at Seweidiya, near al-Kufra; Sabha; al-Jufra and Camp 17, near Benghazi, in eastern Libya. Ahmed said he was taken to the triangle region, “from where we travelled to Kufra”, a key LAAF base in the remote desert southeast of Libya.  'If the RSF lost UAE support, if UAE stopped supporting them, the RSF won't be able to fight' - Ahmed, Rapid Support Forces' defector “Then from Kufra they moved us to Benghazi,” the RSF defector said. “From Benghazi they transported us to a camp, that is Camp 17. That camp has the supplies, and everything sent to support the war is dropped there.” Ahmed said he had witnessed how the UAE brought in weapons and military vehicles by plane for the RSF. “If the RSF lost UAE support, if UAE stopped supporting them, the RSF won't be able to fight in the field anymore, it will break apart,” he told investigators. Ahmed said most ammunition boxes, weapons, and vehicles did not have branding to indicate that they were from the UAE, but that one armoured car did. Part of the training at the camps includes instruction in the use of heavy weaponry and heavy machinery, including the DShk heavy machine gun, RPGs and rocket launchers.  Investigators also identified Colombian mercenaries at the camps in Libya. According to a Human Rights Watch report from May, they are contracted by Global Security Services Group, a UAE-based company with links to the Emirati government. Middle East Eye recently revealed the existence of an RSF training camp in Ethiopia. The UAE and the Sudan war Despite persistent denials, the UAE has been the primary foreign actor in Sudan’s war. Abu Dhabi’s relationship with RSF chief Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who is better known as Hemedti, goes back many years to when he was a key part of the Sudanese state. Gold from Dagalo family mines in Darfur, western Sudan, is exported to the markets of Dubai, while RSF mercenaries – who were then also part of the Sudanese state - fought for the Saudi- and UAE-backed coali