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Biden weeps crocodile tears over Sudan as he arms UAE to the teeth

Alameen Templeton

The UAE is bolstering its military presence in Sudan amid blistering denials from Dubai while the United States has underlined its limp-wristed protests to its presence there by designating the Gulf kingdom as one of its “major military partners”.
The move will allow the UAE to get its hands on some of the most technologically advanced and deadly weaponry the US has at its disposal as it continues pumping arms and ammunition to its ally, the Rapid Support Forces, in Sudan.
The designation as a major military partner occurred during a high-profile visit to the White House, where president Joe Biden’s administration staged a brief sigh of protest over Dubai’s deadly Sudan campaign before opening the weapons floodgates.
Far stronger action than a protesting whimper is needed from the US if its Gulf attack dog is to be brought to heel. It’s own intelligence services as well as repeated media revelations of Dubai’s bloody involvement in Dubai have made it clear the UAE is the major player in the Sudan conflict that has turned millions of its people into refugees.
The New Times reports the UAE has turned a Red Crescent hospital into a military staging ground to support the RSF. And it’s turned an airfield for hospital work in Amdjarass, Chad, into a base to fly Chinese-made armed drones that the RSF uses. The newspaper said UAE had also established a drone-control system and drone hangars around the hospital.
This is not new news to the White House. US officials knew last year already that the $20m hospital constructed by the UAE in neighbouring Chad was being used to ship weapons to the RSF. Although they have raised concerns with the UAE, administration officials have done little else.
US President Joe Biden’s national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, in May cited American intelligence about the UAE’s activities in a call with his Emirati counterpart.
The call came after US Vice President Harris objected to the UAE’s arms smuggling in Sudan in a December meeting with UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan.
Al-Nahyan admitted the UAE owed RSF commander Mohammad Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemeti, “a favour” for providing mercenaries who had fought alongside the UAE in Yemen. He also told Harris he believed Dagalo was a bulwark against Islamists in the region.
Dagalo’s RSF, wanted by the International Criminal Court, is locked in a convoluted proxy war with the Sudanese military that has sucked in the US’s partners and foes.
Sudan’s chaotic battlefield has close US partners siding against each other.
The NYT says Houthis in Yemen sent shiploads of weapons to Sudan’s military at Iran’s request, while Qatar sent Sudan six Chinese warplanes. Egypt has also supported Sudan’s military which is led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan
Saudi Arabia and the UAE also find themselves on opposite Sudanese sides. The NYT says Riyadh is financing Burhan’s army to buy Iranian drones. Russia, which first backed the RSF, has now switched sides to back Sudan’s military.
But the UAE stands head and shoulders above its peers in terms of its contributions to the conflict
The EU’s ambassador to Sudan, Aiden O’Hara, has said the UAE’s “delivery of drones, howitzers, multiple rocket launchers and MANPADS…has helped [the RSF] neutralize the air superiority of Sudan’s military”.
In a joint statement Monday, Biden and Nahyan stressed, hands on their breasts, their “firm and unwavering position” to achieve a “lasting cessation of hostilities” in the war.
And, then, US named the UAE a major defense partner – a step enables it to purchase more sophisticated US weapons and technology
The UAE is the only other state besides India to achieve the designation.
The White House said the move “will allow for unprecedented cooperation through joint training, exercises, and military-to-military collaboration, between the military forces of the US, the UAE, and India”.
The designation reflects the US’s desire to keep the UAE in its camp despite tensions over its role in the Sudanese war.
And the White House is showing as much urgency over Sudan as it is over Gaza.
“The White House’s top Middle East official, Brett McGurk is expected to hold a meeting with Emirati officials on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly this week to discuss the UAE’s military support for the group, but is unlikely to press the matter as tensions rise in the region, a senior US official told Middle East Eye.
“Sudan is unlikely to be in the top five priorities for this visit. On foreign policy, the war in Gaza and Iran will likely headline though certainly Sudan will be discussed,” Elizabeth Dent, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and former Pentagon official told MEE.”
Analysts said “it is with the deep state” in the US where the UAE hoped to build trust and eventually relax restrictions.
At the same time, the UAE is putting billions of dollars into AI and deals are moving ahead.
“The UAE does want to position itself as an AI hub and America is the leader on this,” Anna Jacobs, the International Crisis Group’s senior analyst on the Gulf region told MEE. “This visit will focus significantly more on points of cooperation”.
The public emphasis on economic ties and AI cooperation also obscures where the UAE and US are at odds, such as in Sudan, or failing to make progress, such as in the Gaza Strip.
A western official told MEE the US has been “wringing its hands” over the UAE’s support for the RSF, but will do as much as it does to rein in Benjamin Netanyahu. In other words, nothing.
Biden pulled a Gaza move last week, calling the war in Sudan “senseless” and doing nothing else. Biden was careful to also criticise the Sudanese armed forces.
The western official who spoke to MEE on the condition of anonymity said many US officials viewed the UAE as the “enabler” to the war, but that the administration was “too distracted” to seriously press Abu Dhabi over its support.

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