The United Arab Emirates launched an intensive lobbying campaign inside the European Parliament this week and succeeded in preventing any mention of its alleged role in the Sudan war from appearing in a key resolution calling for an end to the conflict. According to reports from Politico and Euronews a delegation led by Minister of State Lana Nusseibeh held a series of high level meetings in Strasbourg before the vote and worked to persuade lawmakers to remove any wording that referred to the UAE as a supplier of weapons to Sudans Rapid Support Forces.
Dutch MEP Marit Maij told DW News that some lawmakers had planned to urge the European Commission to suspend trade negotiations with the UAE for as long as weapons continued to reach the RSF through Emirati channels. Her comments followed months of investigations by Amnesty International the Wall Street Journal and other media outlets which detailed weapons shipments allegedly moving from the UAE through routes in Somalia Libya and Chad. Earlier this year the Sudanese government accused the UAE of complicity in genocide in a case submitted to the International Court of Justice.
Left wing MEPs attempted to introduce amendments naming the UAE and calling for accountability but these efforts were rejected during Thursdays voting session. Conservative groups including the European Peoples Party and the European Conservatives and Reformists voted against every amendment that directly cited the Emirati government. The adopted resolution condemned the RSF for mass killings during the fall of El Fasher and called for sanctions on external enablers but none were named.
Euronews reported that the Emirati delegation met Roberta Metsola the president of the European Parliament earlier in the week and later held talks with lawmakers from several parties. The delegation circulated statements denying that the UAE had provided any political or material support to the RSF and urged members to avoid including accusations in the text. After the vote Lana Nusseibeh welcomed the final resolution and reaffirmed what she described as the UAEs commitment to supporting efforts to end the civil war in Sudan.
Officials from the Sudanese Armed Forces said the lobbying campaign reflected the scale of foreign involvement in the conflict. General Yasser al Atta stated that the world had stayed silent about RSF atrocities and claimed that this silence had been purchased with Emirati money. Survivors from El Fasher have described mass killings sexual violence torture and the destruction of entire communities as the RSF advanced through the city.
Analysts say the developments highlight the growing influence of Gulf states within European institutions and raise concerns about the ability of the European Union to uphold human rights principles in its foreign policy. As the war in Sudan continues to produce one of the worlds worst humanitarian crises the absence of any reference to alleged foreign sponsors has alarmed rights advocates who argue that accountability is essential for any hope of peace.
