WASHINGTON—The U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee has condemned the United Arab Emirates’ support and funding of Rapid Support Forces (RSF) training camps in Ethiopia, warning that such outside support risks further escalating Sudan’s brutal conflict.
“Such external assistance will only fuel Sudan’s brutal conflict,” the commission said in a post on social media platform X.
Congressman Gregory Meeks, ranking member of the committee, announced the continued suspension of major US arms sales to the UAE and countries supporting the RSF and other warring parties.
Separately, Congresswoman Sarah Jacobs described Sudan’s humanitarian crisis as “catastrophic”, noting that millions of civilians face threats to their lives amid insecurity and lack of shelter, food, water and medicine.
She called for an immediate halt to U.S. arms sales and called for efforts to exclude all external actors from the conflict, “starting with the United Arab Emirates.”
The statement follows a Reuters report that cited satellite images and internal documents alleging that Ethiopia hosts secret camps used to train thousands of RSF fighters.
According to the report, an internal memo seen by Reuters claims that the UAE provided military supplies to the RSF inside Ethiopian territory.
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The camp reportedly includes a drone ground control center and houses approximately 4,300 fighters, including Ethiopian and South Sudanese nationals, and increased activity has been observed in Ethiopia’s Benishangul-Gumuz region near the Sudanese border.
Reuters reported that accusations by the Sudanese military that the UAE supplied weapons to the RSF are considered credible by some UN experts.
The report also cited sightings of trucks bearing the logos of Emirati companies near the camp, and also mentioned the UAE’s alleged funding of renovations to a nearby Ethiopian airport used for logistics support.
The news agency said the report, based on satellite imagery, said the camp was the first direct evidence of Ethiopia’s involvement in Sudan’s civil war, a development that could widen the conflict and bring an influx of new fighters to the RSF as clashes intensify in southern Sudan.
The Sudanese war that broke out in 2023 between the Sudanese military and the RSF has caused one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, displacing millions of people and destabilizing parts of the region.
