US lawmakers find UAE provides weapons to Sudan RSF; UAE denies this

By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two U.S. lawmakers will keep trying to block arms sales to the United Arab Emirates, having determined that the UAE is providing weapons to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan's civil war, they said on Friday.

A UAE official denied this.

The Sudanese army and the RSF together led a coup in 2021 removing Sudan's civilian leadership, but fell out less than two years later over plans to integrate their forces. The war that broke out between them in April 2023 has plunged half of the population into hunger.

Senator Chris Van Hollen and Representative Sara Jacobs, both Democrats, said in a statement to Reuters they based their determination on a briefing from former President Joe Biden's administration and other reporting.

"The UAE is an important partner in the Middle East, but the United States cannot turn a blind eye to its aiding and abetting the suffering in Sudan," Van Hollen said in a statement.

"We now know that the UAE has continued arming the RSF – ensuring this war and this devastation goes on. The U.S. has the opportunity to end this war and bring stability to Sudan by withholding weapons to the UAE and essentially cutting off the supply chain to the RSF," Jacobs said.

Asked for comment, a UAE official said the country's focus in Sudan remains addressing the humanitarian crisis, calling for an immediate ceasefire and peaceful resolution to the conflict.

"In this regard, the UAE has already made absolutely clear that it is not providing any support or supplies to either of two belligerent warring parties in Sudan," the official said.

The Biden administration had promised to provide lawmakers an assessment by Jan. 17 - just three days before President Donald Trump took office - on the credibility of UAE assurances that it was not providing and would not provide weapons to the RSF.

U.S. law requires congressional review of major arms deals, and lets members of the Senate force votes on resolutions of disapproval that would block such sales. Although the law does not let House members force such votes, resolutions must pass both chambers of Congress, and potentially survive a presidential veto, to go into effect.

The UAE has long been a major purchaser of U.S. weapons. In October, the Biden administration announced, for example, that it had approved a potential sale of GMLRS and ATACMS munitions, and related support, for $1.2 billion.

GMLRS, or Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System rockets, are made by Lockheed Martin Corp., with L3Harris Technologies producing the solid propellant rocket motor for the system. The long-range ATACMS are made by Lockheed Martin.

Van Hollen and Jacobs filed legislation in the Senate and House of Representatives in November seeking to halt that sale.

Their effort is unlikely to win significant support in Congress as presidents from both parties have long viewed the UAE as a vital regional security partner. But the lawmakers hope to draw attention to a conflict that has become one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Additional reporting by Maha El Dahan in Dubai; Editing by Don Durfee and Frances Kerry)