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Cameron Hudson, who served as chief of staff to successive presidential special envoys for Sudan and as the NSC’s director for African affairs, says Sudan’s war is better understood as the UAE’s war on Sudan than as a civil war: “At some point, I can no longer blame UAE for being UAE. I have to blame Washington for knowing better and looking the other way,” he adds.
Cameron Hudson
It is increasingly impossible to frame the war in Sudan today as simply a battle between the SAF and the RSF. News over the past week proves that its a war of the UAE against Sudan. Sudanese have been saying this from the start, but despite making gains on the battlefield they have been massively losing an information campaign online. On one side, we have evidence of UAE weapons supplies flowing into the RSF from at least 7 neighboring and regional states and UN reports documenting the deployment of thousands of Colombian mercenaries to fight alongside the RSF. On the other side, we now have online disinformation campaigns involving the creating of hundreds of fake accounts, creation of fake NGOs, fake testimonies, all of which lead directly back to senior UAE state officials. Most disappointing is the many willing accomplices UAE has secured from among Sudan's political class, who have been whitewashing these disinformation campaigns through their own legitimate media contacts and personal lobbying of foreign diplomats. It is a truly head-spinning and multi-faceted campaign paid for and orchestrated by the UAE. The evidence is today overwhelming, which begs the question, how long will the international community continue to look past UAE's crimes and therefore continue to misdiagnose what is happening in Sudan. That misdiagnosis is exactly what UAE wants. By spending time debating arms embargoes that wont be enforced or chemical weapons programs that didn't kill anyone or Muslim Brotherhood chapters taking over the military or Houthi rebels setting up bases in Port Sudan then we spend no time talking about the multi-headed hydra, on the ground and online, that is the UAE's involvement in trying to not just win a war in Sudan, but to seize control of the entire state on its own and through its proxies. This isn't hyperbole. I expect that Washington and most of Western countries will continue to ignore the UAE's transgressions, but we dont have to play into them either. We dont have to let them manipulate our policies, get us to impose sanctions or undermine our diplomacy as they are doing. At some point, I can no longer blame UAE for being UAE. I have to blame Washington for knowing better and looking the other way.
