Are You Financing the War in Sudan?

If you eat Dubai chocolate, pose in front of the Burj Khalifa or watch football at the Etihad, you are supporting one of the largest displacements of people in world history. In Sudan, more than 15 million people have been forced to flee. Millions more are experiencing extreme famine. Today the war has lasted for a thousand days, marked by systematic torture, rape, and killing of Sudanese women, men, and children.

The perpetrators largely belong to the completely ruthless militia Rapid Support Forces (RSF), financed by the United Arab Emirates. At the same time, the guerrilla group is to a large extent legitimized as a party in a so-called civil war against the Sudanese Armed Forces, and several Western countries are calling for negotiations between the parties.

But this is no civil war. The militia is led by charismatic Hemedti, the former vice president of Sudan. Together with President Al-Burhan of the Sudanese Armed Forces he managed to secure a place i a transitional government in 2019.

It was all a show for appearances; his plan was always to take over all of Sudan, and Hemedti laid the groundwork for a coup that was carried out on 15 April 2023. The vice president wanted to become the sole ruler and gain full control over Sudan’s vast gold and oil reserves. The Sudanese army is not democratically elected either, but it enjoys broader support among the population. The army has by no means achieved heroic status, yet most people believe that a Sudanese institution is nonetheless the best guarantee for a path toward democracy.

Hemedti’s plan went badly. In March 2025, the army regained control of the capital, Khartoum, and the RSF was forced to retreat to Darfur in the southwest to lick its wounds and take revenge on the defenseless locals, after two years of brutality proved to be futile. Sudanese people in Khartoum, elsewhere in the country and around the world celebrated Hemedti’s expulsion.

The RSF did not, however, remain idle. With the help of enormous quantities of airlifted weapons from the Emirates, the militia rebuilt its forces. Even though the tyrannical group from Chad failed to take over the neighboring country, Western governments continue to try to legitimize the terrorists by inviting them to negotiations. Some even argue for dividing the African giant into two.

In the Middle East, ISIS raped and murdered thousands of civilians through several years from 2013. The terrorists were condemned by the international community and eventually nearly eliminated. No one wanted to negotiate with a group that ignored all rules of conduct, mocked other religions, showed utter contempt for international law, and liquidated tens of thousands of innocents. The RSF behaves in the same way, only in an even more horrific manner and on a far larger scale. Rape is routinely used as a weapon, before women, men, children and even babies are tortured and killed. Observers report that victims have repeatedly been lined up and shot one by one in the head while the other prisoners watch and wait their turn. When that is no longer “fun,” people are buried alive in mass graves. Entire hospitals have been razed to the ground, including all medical staff and patients. In addition, terrified women have desperately contacted imams via social media to ask forgiveness for taking their own lives, preferring suicide to being raped and killed.

Sudan is one of the world’s most hospitable and welcoming countries; I have been there several times. It even has more pyramids than Egypt, but the country is worse at marketing itself. In 2022, I met Jacqui Kunz, who had then lived in Khartoum for a decade. The following year she was displaced, along with far too many others. All she managed to bring with her were the clothes she was wearing and the contents of her handbag. Her apartment in Khartoum has most likely been destroyed, her belongings are probably gone - there are no witnesses - and it is not safe to return. With no functioning police force, gang mentality prevails. Only Larry, one of the cats, was rescued by a neighbor and brought to Cairo. We are now married, and she lives with me in Oslo. With Finnish-Irish-American roots, she does not look like a displaced person. But the aftereffects remain, she still struggles with nightmares and depression. And Jacqui, after all, had a strong passport and somewhere to go.

Behind the scenes, the United Arab Emirates have been present all along, acting as overzealous buyers of precious metals and black gold. Dubai’s gold market is world famous, but how much gold does actually comes from the Emirates? Nothing. Its reputation as a gold nation, even as the world’s second-largest gold exporter, is manufactured. The responsibility for the war lies with the gold-hungry nation in the Middle East, as research by, among others, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, and U.S. authorities clearly shows. At the same time, the powerful Emirates minimize their role, following advice from world-class communications consultants.

Still, there is no escaping the fact that when you stay at the Jumeirah Burj Al Arab, make calls via Etisalat, fill up with fuel from ADNOC or fly luxury long-haul with Emirates, you are complicit in the rape of children, the burning alive of innocents, the deliberate running over of people and the blocking of humanitarian aid. Silently consenting to genocide and the displacement of millions of civilians is hardly something to boast about to one’s grandchildren. Participating in protests and boycotting Emirati products is likely a far better strategy for a clear conscience.