Eyes on Sudan: Hold the UAE to account
Eyes on Sudan Hero Image

Eyes on Sudan: Hold the UAE to account.

The conflict between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) has plunged Sudan into one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises. Over 30 million people, including nearly 15 million children, are in urgent need, at least 150,000 have been killed, and over 13 million have been displaced.

The issue:

While both warring parties are backed by various international actors, there is credible evidence that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) continues to provide extensive military and financial support to the RSF.

As vice-president and deputy prime minister of the UAE, Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour is well-placed to intervene in the UAE's role in this conflict. Concerningly, Mansour has well-documented ties with the leader of the RSF, Mohamed Hamdan ‘Hemedti’ Dagalo, and has been described as Hemedti’s closest ally in the Emirates.

In March 2023 Premier League unanimously approved new rules that should disqualify individuals involved in 'human rights abuses' from club ownership.

And yet Mansour has not been held accountable.

How can you help?

Sign our petition to the Premier League, calling on it to uphold its obligations to prevent human rights abuses by:

  1. Raising these issues with Sheikh Mansour as a matter of urgency.
  2. Holding Sheikh Mansour to account for the role his country is playing in prolonging and profiting from the conflict.
  3. Insisting that the UAE ends its support for the RSF and provides humanitarian assistance to the people of Sudan as a means of reparation. 

This is an initial step towards what we really want to see in Sudan: a return to a civilian-led democratic transition, and ultimately justice and accountability for violations committed both before and during the conflict.

You can read the full text of our petition here.

FAQs

What are you trying to achieve?
Our objective is to get Sheikh Mansour, the owner of Manchester City, to use his power as deputy prime minister and vice-president of the UAE, and brother of the president, to halt all UAE support – including military and financial – to one of the parties to the conflict, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF – formerly the Janjaweed militia responsible for the first Darfur genocide in 2003). This would be a step towards an end to the conflict, which we want to see followed by a return to a civilian-led democratic transition, and ultimately justice and accountability for violations committed both before and during the conflict.
Why Manchester City/Sheikh Mansour?
Manchester City is part of the City Football Group, which is majority owned by Sheikh Mansour’s Abu Dhabi United Group. Given the evidence of Mansour’s personal ties to Hemedti, and the UAE’s clear involvement in the conflict in Sudan which is taking place under Mansour’s vice-presidency and deputy premiership – and his brother’s presidency – CSW believes it is imperative to highlight his complicity in the RSF’s severe human rights abuses. The Premier League itself also has a responsibility to prevent human rights abuses, as laid out in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and in 2023 all Premier League clubs voted unanimously to add a rule to the Premier League Handbook disqualifying individuals responsible for human rights abuses from club ownership. With this in mind, CSW believes it should be possible to hold Sheikh Mansour to account by the Premier League’s own standards.
Why now?
Action is long overdue and there is no time to waste. CSW and countless others civil society actors, including Sudanese and international organisations, have been calling for a ceasefire since the conflict broke out almost three years ago, including via advocacy with various governments and at the European Union and United Nations. Some governments have echoed these calls but this has had little effect on the ground. Targeting Sheikh Mansour and the UAE in this way is an attempt to get more creative with our advocacy in the hope that this moves Sudan closer to peace.
What about the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF)?
Like the RSF, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) stands credibly accused of war crimes by a UN independent international fact-finding mission. Throughout the course of the conflict the SAF has deliberately targeted civilians with inhuman and degrading treatment, including sexual and gender-based violence; it has attacked places of worship and detains anyone who comes from an RSF-controlled area as a potential collaborator, extracting confessions under torture and sentencing those found ‘guilty’ of RSF affiliation to a lengthy prison sentence or even the death penalty. CSW is calling for a comprehensive ceasefire and a return to the civilian-led democratic transition which both the SAF and the RSF brought to an end with a coup in October 2021, and ultimately for all parties to the conflict responsible for severe human rights abuses and potential atrocity crimes to be held to account.
What does this have to do with freedom of religion or belief (FoRB)?
The ongoing conflict has sharpened a focus on identity that has been present in Sudan for decades, with both the RSF and the SAF targeting civilians perceived as not belonging to the ‘right’ ethnic or religious group. In Darfur the RSF has specifically targeted people of African ethnicity and Christians have been affected as well. In the north, predominantly African Christian communities from the Nuba mountains have been discriminated against by the SAF and those perceived to be from Arab Darfuri groups have also been harassed. Places of worship, and particularly churches, have also been targeted during the conflict in violation of international humanitarian law. These attacks are consistent with actions taken by leaders of both the SAF and RSF during the period following their joint coup in October 2021, which was marked by the clawing back of limited democratic gains, the return to prominence of Islamists from the Bashir era, an emboldening of extremist non-state actors amid growing impunity, and repression and violations of FoRB across the country, including harassment, arrests and prosecutions of converts despite apostasy no longer being a crime under the law, and seizures and demolitions of church owned properties.
What about Manchester City’s players?
There is no evidence that any Manchester City player openly supports the conflict in Sudan or any particular party in it. CSW suspects that many or all may be oblivious to their club owner’s ties to the conflict, however we would urge all players to educate themselves on these connections and the devastating impact this has had on the country, and to speak out accordingly.
What about the other clubs owned by Sheikh Mansour?
City Football Group also owns Manchester City Women, Girona (Spain) and Palermo (Italy) men and women’s teams, Troyes (France), Lommel (Belgium), New York City and its reserves team, Mumbai City (India), Melbourne City (Australia) men and women’s teams, Yokohama F. Marinos (Japan), Shenzhen Peng City (China), Montevideo City Torque (Uruguay) and Bahia (Brazil). It also has partner clubs in Bolivia, France, Turkey and Singapore. As a primarily UK-based organisation, CSW felt it would be most effective to start by focusing on Manchester City, which is also estimated to be the sixth most valuable club in the world, competing in the most-watched sports league in the world.

Sign up for updates on the work of CSW

* mandatory fields

By signing up you will receive news about CSW's work and how you can support it. You can unsubscribe at any time.

#2 CSW manifesto

We believe no one should suffer discrimination, harassment or persecution because of their beliefs