Hemedti was already a friend to the UAE. The Emirates had reportedly<\/a> paid him to send RSF fighters to Yemen as part of a Saudi-led collation to crush Houthi insurgents, in 2018. During his 2021 visit, he and Sheikh Mansour toured an arms fair<\/a>, browsing exhibits of rockets and drones alongside the leader of the Chechen Republic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Later that year, on 25 October, Hemedti and Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al Burhan, President of the Sovereignty Council and leader of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), mounted a joint coup against the transitional government, returning Sudan to an era of repression reminiscent of the al-Bashir regime from which its people had secured their freedom in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In February 2023, with Hemedti at this point having overseen\u00a0further violence against peaceful protesters\u00a0and\u00a0countless\u00a0other human rights violations\u00a0\u2013 and the\u00a0coup to which he was party\u00a0having been\u00a0roundly\u00a0condemned\u00a0by the international community\u00a0\u2013 he visited Sheikh Mansour once again<\/a>.\u00a0A\u00a0press release<\/a>\u00a0from the time claims that the meeting \u2018discussed\u00a0the close bilateral relations between the two brotherly countries, and ways to enhance and develop them.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two months later, on 15 April 2023, the RSF and SAF entered into conflict just as the two parties were due to merge<\/a> in what was meant to be a step towards a transition to democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Over 150,000 people have been\u00a0killed<\/a>\u00a0since then. Thirteen million have been\u00a0displaced<\/a>, and UN agencies\u00a0estimate<\/a>\u00a0that more than 30 million, including\u00a0nearly 15\u00a0million children, are in urgent need of humanitarian\u00a0assistance.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Both the RSF and the SAF stand accused<\/a> by a UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission of war crimes, with the RSF also implicated in crimes against humanity. Both have inflicted untold misery on the people of Sudan, including sexual and gender-based violence, the deliberate targeting of civilians<\/a> on account of their religious or ethnic identity, and the bombing of hospitals, schools, displacement camps and places of worship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And yet the UAE continues to count Hemedti as a friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shortly after the conflict broke out, the UAE set up a base at Am Djarass airport in Chad, where it claims to be running a humanitarian effort which, in reality, has served as a front to supply RSF fighters with sophisticated weaponry, including anti-tank missiles<\/a>, armoured personnel carriers<\/a> and guided bombs and howitzers<\/a> \u2013 all either manufactured in, or re-exported by, the UAE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The UN Panel of Experts on Sudan has concluded<\/a> that allegations of the UAE supporting the RSF through Am Djarass are \u2018credible\u2019, and in September 2024 the New York Times reported<\/a> that drones flying out of the airport had been seen hovering over El Fasher in Darfur \u2013 a city which spent 18 months under RSF siege before its capture amid widespread atrocities against civilians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Further reporting indicates<\/a> that the UAE may even have deployed personnel to fight alongside the RSF. Also, it has almost certainly helped hire<\/a> and transport<\/a> mercenaries from Colombia tasked with doing the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, Sheikh Mansour himself has been described<\/a> as Hemedti\u2019s closest ally in the Emirates. US intelligence officers have intercepted<\/a> regular phone calls between him and Hemedti, and over a dozen African, Arab and US officials have claimed that he is at the forefront of the UAE\u2019s campaign to expand its influence across Africa and the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is therefore\u00a0apparent\u00a0that the UAE\u2019s support for the RSF is not just happening on Sheikh Mansour\u2019s watch, but with his active involvement and approval.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n But for all his wealth and influence, and all his country\u2019s denials even in the face of extensive evidence, the Sheikh is not inaccessible. He is, of course, the owner of Manchester City Football Club \u2013 one of the most decorated teams in the most-watched sports league in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the Premier League\u2019s own standards, this should be unacceptable. In March 2023 its clubs voted unanimously in favour<\/a> of adding a \u2018Disqualifying Event\u2019 for \u2018human rights abuses\u2019 to the league\u2019s Owners\u2019 and Directors\u2019 Test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While said change is not articulated in the current Premier League handbook, the vote nonetheless reflects a consensus, and should at the very least grant the league a mandate to raise these issues with Sheikh Mansour, demanding that he ends his country\u2019s support for the RSF, and instead directs its considerable resources to providing humanitarian assistance to the people of Sudan as a means of reparation for the UAE\u2019s complicity in the killing and displacement of millions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/hemedti-meets-sheikh-mansour-in-abu-dhabi-february-2023.jpg\")
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![\"Sudanese](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/sdn-sudanese-displaced-to-tawila-following-the-rsf-capture-of-el-fasher.-2.jpeg\")
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