Latest news with #GB50A
L'Orient-Le Jour
09-05-2025
- Politics
- L'Orient-Le Jour
UAE denies supplying Chinese weapons to Sudan paramilitaries
The United Arab Emirates on Friday denied an Amnesty International report accusing it of providing Chinese-made weapons to Sudanese paramilitary forces at war with the regular army. "The UAE strongly rejects the suggestion that it is supplying weaponry to any party involved in the ongoing conflict in Sudan," said Salem Aljaberi, the UAE's assistant minister for security and military affairs. "These claims are baseless and lack substantiated evidence," he said in a statement posted on the foreign ministry's X account. On Thursday, Amnesty said it identified "Chinese GB50A guided bombs and 155mm AH-4 howitzers" through analysis of footage of attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Khartoum and Darfur. The London-based human rights group said the UAE was the only country to import howitzers from China in a deal in 2019. It relied on data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute for its report. "The howitzer referenced in the report is a system manufactured outside the UAE and has been available on the international market for nearly a decade," Aljaberi said, labelling the Amnesty report as "misleading." "The assertion that only one country has procured or transferred this system is invalid," he added. Amnesty's report came as the RSF pressed its long-range drone attacks on army-held cities in Sudan. Abu Dhabi has repeatedly denied arming the RSF, despite reports from U.N. experts, U.S. politicians and international organisations. On Tuesday, the army-aligned government severed ties with the UAE, accusing it of supplying the RSF with the advanced weapons systems it has used to strike Port Sudan. The UAE denied the allegation, saying the internationally recognised administration "does not represent the legitimate government of Sudan."
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
UAE denies supplying Sudan paramilitaries with Chinese arms
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has denied supplying Chinese-made weapons to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which is locked in a brutal conflict with Sudan's military government. Salem Aljaberi, the UAE's assistant minister for security and military affairs, said on social media on Friday that the allegations, contained in an Amnesty International report released the previous day, are 'baseless' and 'lack substantiated evidence'. Abu Dhabi has long rejected accusations – stemming from sources including the United Nations, United States, and NGOs – that it is arming the RSF. 'The UAE strongly rejects the suggestion that it is supplying weaponry to any party involved in the ongoing conflict in Sudan,' Aljaberi said in a statement shared by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on X. Amnesty said on Thursday that it had verified footage showing RSF fighters using Chinese GB50A guided bombs and 155mm AH-4 howitzers during attacks in Khartoum and Darfur. According to the rights group, the UAE was the only known buyer of the howitzers from China, citing data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Aljaberi dismissed the conclusion, saying the weapon system 'has been available on the international market for nearly a decade' and was not exclusive to the UAE. He described the report as 'misleading'. Suffering a series of battlefield setbacks in recent weeks, the RSF has intensified its long-range drone attacks on areas controlled by the army. The eastern city of Port Sudan has been a particular target and was hit for a sixth consecutive day on Friday. An army official, speaking to the AFP news agency anonymously, said air defences intercepted 'enemy drones'. Witnesses reported attacks damaging vital infrastructure, including the country's only operational international airport, the largest fuel storage facility, and the main power station. Port Sudan serves as the country's principal aid hub. The war in Sudan has killed tens of thousands and displaced more than 13 million, creating the world's worst humanitarian crisis, according to the UN. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned the attacks 'threaten to increase humanitarian needs and further complicate aid operations in the country', according to his spokesperson. Sudan's Defence Minister Yassin Ibrahim on Tuesday accused the UAE of violating the country's sovereignty by backing the RSF, and the military government announced it would cut diplomatic relations. In response, Abu Dhabi denied supplying weapons and rejected the legitimacy of Sudan's internationally recognised government. Earlier this week, the International Court of Justice threw out Sudan's lawsuit accusing the UAE of involvement in genocide, saying it does not have jurisdiction over the issues due to the Middle Eastern country's exemption from Article 9 of the Genocide Convention. UAE official Reem Ketait welcomed the ruling, calling it 'clear and decisive'.
The Sun
09-05-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
UAE Denies Amnesty Claim of Arming Sudan's RSF
UAE denies supplying Chinese weapons to Sudan paramilitaries DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates on Friday denied an Amnesty International report accusing it of providing Chinese-made weapons to Sudanese paramilitary forces at war with the regular army. 'The UAE strongly rejects the suggestion that it is supplying weaponry to any party involved in the ongoing conflict in Sudan,' said Salem Aljaberi, the UAE's assistant minister for security and military affairs. 'These claims are baseless and lack substantiated evidence,' he said in a statement posted on the foreign ministry's X account. On Thursday, Amnesty said it identified 'Chinese GB50A guided bombs and 155mm AH-4 howitzers' through analysis of footage of attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Khartoum and Darfur. The London-based human rights group said the UAE was the only country to import howitzers from China, in a deal in 2019. It relied on data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute for its report. 'The howitzer referenced in the report is a system manufactured outside the UAE and has been available on the international market for nearly a decade,' Aljaberi said, labelling the Amnesty report as 'misleading'. 'The assertion that only one country has procured or transferred this system is invalid,' he added. Amnesty's report came as the RSF pressed its long-range drone attacks on army-held cities in Sudan. Abu Dhabi has repeatedly denied arming the RSF, despite reports from UN experts, US politicians and international organisations. On Tuesday, the army-aligned government severed ties with the UAE, accusing it of supplying the RSF with the advanced weapons systems it has used to strike Port Sudan. The UAE denied the allegation, saying the internationally recognised administration 'does not represent the legitimate government of Sudan'.
eNCA
08-05-2025
- Politics
- eNCA
Drones drag Sudan war into dangerous new territory
Paramilitary drone strikes targeting Sudan's wartime capital have sought to shatter the regular army's sense of security and open a dangerous new chapter in the war, experts say. Since April 2023, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) group has been at war with the army, which has lately recaptured some territory and dislodged the paramilitaries from the capital Khartoum. The latter appeared to have the upper hand before Sunday, when drone strikes began blasting key infrastructure in Port Sudan, seat of the army-backed government on the Red Sea coast. With daily strikes on the city since then, the RSF has sought to demonstrate its strength, discredit the army, disrupt its supply lines and project an air of legitimacy, experts believe. According to Sudanese analyst Kholood Khair, "this is intended to undermine the army's ability to provide safety and security in areas they control", allowing the RSF to expand the war "without physically being there". For two years, the paramilitaries relied mainly on lightning ground offensives, overwhelming army defences in brutal campaigns of conquest. But after losing nearly all of Khartoum in March, the RSF has increasingly turned to long-range air power. Using weapons the army says were supplied by the United Arab Emirates, it has hit strategic sites hundreds of kilometres away from their holdout positions on the capital's outskirts. Michael Jones, research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London, says the RSF's pivot is a matter of both "strategic adaptation" and "if not desperation, then necessity". - Strategic setback - "The loss of Khartoum was both a strategic and symbolic setback," he told AFP. In response, the RSF needed to broadcast a "message that the war isn't over", according to Sudanese analyst Hamid Khalafallah. The conflict between Sudan's de facto leader, army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, has split Africa's third-largest country in two. The army holds the centre, north and east, while the RSF controls nearly all of the vast western region of Darfur and, with its allies, parts of the south. "It's unlikely that the RSF can retake Khartoum or reach Port Sudan by land, but drones enable them to create a sense of fear and destabilise cities" formerly considered safe, Khalafallah told AFP. With drones and light munitions, it can "reach areas it hasn't previously infiltrated successfully", Jones said. According to a retired Sudanese general, the RSF has been known to use two types of drone -- makeshift lightweight models with 120mm mortar rounds that explode on impact, and long-range drones capable of delivering guided missiles, including the Chinese-manufactured CH95. On Thursday, rights group Amnesty International published a report that said "Chinese GB50A guided bombs and 155mm AH-4 howitzers" used by the RSF in Khartoum and Darfur were provided by the UAE. - Sparing fighters - The Sudanese government severed diplomatic ties with the Gulf state on Tuesday, accusing it of supplying the advanced weapons systems the RSF has used to attack Port Sudan. Abu Dhabi has repeatedly denied arming the RSF, despite reports from UN experts, US politicians and international organisations. According to Mohaned Elnour, nonresident fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, the RSF's "main objective is to divert the army's attention" and position itself as a potential government, which it has said it will form. "It's much easier for them to attack quickly and withdraw, rather than defend territory," Elnour said. Crossing Sudan's vast landmass -- some 1,500 kilometres from RSF bases in Darfur to Port Sudan -- requires long-range drones such as the Chinese-made Wing Loong II, deployed by the UAE, or the Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 used by the army, according to Amnesty. Both sides in Sudan are in a race to "destroy each other's drone capacity", Khair said. Two years into the devastating war, the RSF has another incentive to rely on drones, she said. "It allows them to spare their troops" after reports that RSF recruitment has dipped since the war began. "Initial recruitment was high based on the opportunity to loot, and there's very little left to loot now," she said. Both sides have been accused of war crimes including targeting civilians, but the RSF is specifically accused of rampant looting, ethnic cleansing and systematic sexual violence. By Lobna Monieb And Nada Abou El-amaim
France 24
08-05-2025
- Politics
- France 24
Drones drag Sudan war into dangerous new territory
Since April 2023, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) group has been at war with the army, which has lately recaptured some territory and dislodged the paramilitaries from the capital Khartoum. The latter appeared to have the upper hand before Sunday, when drone strikes began blasting key infrastructure in Port Sudan, seat of the army-backed government on the Red Sea coast. With daily strikes on the city since then, the RSF has sought to demonstrate its strength, discredit the army, disrupt its supply lines and project an air of legitimacy, experts believe. According to Sudanese analyst Kholood Khair, "this is intended to undermine the army's ability to provide safety and security in areas they control", allowing the RSF to expand the war "without physically being there". For two years, the paramilitaries relied mainly on lightning ground offensives, overwhelming army defences in brutal campaigns of conquest. But after losing nearly all of Khartoum in March, the RSF has increasingly turned to long-range air power. Using weapons the army says were supplied by the United Arab Emirates, it has hit strategic sites hundreds of kilometres (miles) away from their holdout positions on the capital's outskirts. Michael Jones, research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London, says the RSF's pivot is a matter of both "strategic adaptation" and "if not desperation, then necessity". Strategic setback "The loss of Khartoum was both a strategic and symbolic setback," he told AFP. In response, the RSF needed to broadcast a "message that the war isn't over", according to Sudanese analyst Hamid Khalafallah. The conflict between Sudan's de facto leader, army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, has split Africa's third-largest country in two. The army holds the centre, north and east, while the RSF controls nearly all of the vast western region of Darfur and, with its allies, parts of the south. "It's unlikely that the RSF can retake Khartoum or reach Port Sudan by land, but drones enable them to create a sense of fear and destabilise cities" formerly considered safe, Khalafallah told AFP. With drones and light munitions, it can "reach areas it hasn't previously infiltrated successfully", Jones said. According to a retired Sudanese general, the RSF has been known to use two types of drone -- makeshift lightweight models with 120mm mortar rounds that explode on impact, and long-range drones capable of delivering guided missiles, including the Chinese-manufactured CH95. On Thursday, rights group Amnesty International published a report that said "Chinese GB50A guided bombs and 155mm AH-4 howitzers" used by the RSF in Khartoum and Darfur were provided by the UAE. Sparing fighters The Sudanese government severed diplomatic ties with the Gulf state on Tuesday, accusing it of supplying the advanced weapons systems the RSF has used to attack Port Sudan. Abu Dhabi has repeatedly denied arming the RSF, despite reports from UN experts, US politicians and international organisations. According to Mohaned Elnour, nonresident fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, the RSF's "main objective is to divert the army's attention" and position itself as a potential government, which it has said it will form. "It's much easier for them to attack quickly and withdraw, rather than defend territory," Elnour said. Crossing Sudan's vast landmass -- some 1,500 kilometres (930 miles) from RSF bases in Darfur to Port Sudan -- requires long-range drones such as the Chinese-made Wing Loong II, deployed by the UAE, or the Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 used by the army, according to Amnesty. Both sides in Sudan are in a race to "destroy each other's drone capacity", Khair said. Two years into the devastating war, the RSF has another incentive to rely on drones, she said. "It allows them to spare their troops" after reports that RSF recruitment has dipped since the war began. "Initial recruitment was high based on the opportunity to loot, and there's very little left to loot now," she said. Both sides have been accused of war crimes including targeting civilians, but the RSF is specifically accused of rampant looting, ethnic cleansing and systematic sexual violence. © 2025 AFP
