By Nayera Abdallah and Jana Choukeir
ABU DHABI (Reuters) -Anwar Gargash, the diplomatic adviser to the UAE’s president, called on Wednesday for an immediate ceasefire and civilian transition in war-ravaged Sudan.
“At this point in Sudan, even without too much clarity, we need a ceasefire and we need for people to feel safe,” Gargash said in an interview at the Reuters NEXT Gulf Summit in Abu Dhabi. “Once we are allowed to work there, the UAE will scale up.”
Gargash said Sudan’s future should involve a civilian transition rather than a military junta.
He added that Sudan is not currently allowing the United Arab Emirates to serve in a humanitarian capacity like it does in Gaza, but expressed readiness to scale up efforts once it was allowed to.
The Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been fighting for control of Sudan since April 2023, creating what the United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
The hotspot for fighting is al-Fashir, the army’s last stronghold in the Darfur region, which RSF wants to be its base for a parallel government that it installed over the summer.
The Sudanese army has accused the UAE of providing the RSF support including advanced weaponry and mercenary fighters. The UAE has denied these claims.
“If you want to be active in the region and be a major influencer in how the region works, then you will have all this stuff thrown at you,” Gargash said.
Relations between the two countries have soured and most recently, the UAE has imposed a de facto embargo on Sudanese gold, dealing a blow to the country’s economy, according to traders and officials.
(Additional reporting by Andrew Mills, Writing by Tala Ramadan and Michael Georgy; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Thomas Derpinghaus)
