By Iqbal Jassat
Media Review Network is appalled that the UAE-backed Rapid Support Forces (RSF), continue to commit horrendous war crimes in Sudan, while the continent’s African Union (AU) remains utterly impotent.
Hundreds of thousands of children have been displaced, subjected to killings, to different forms of sexual violence including rape and sexual slavery, as well as unlawful detention and abduction, is the latest update by Amnesty International (AI).
While AI is calling for an immediate ceasefire in Sudan and for the urgent deployment of an international force to protect civilians, it is extremely disappointing that leaders across Africa have failed to halt the atrocities.
It is no secret that the RSF have been widely accused by the United Nations, the International Criminal Court (ICC), and human rights groups of systematic war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts amounting to ethnic cleansing and genocide during the ongoing civil war.
A UN Fact-Finding Mission concluded that the RSF’s coordinated campaign of violence, mass killings, and sexual abuse in places like El Fasher amounts to genocide.
The AU’s silence raises questions about how many massacres will it take in Sudan before it takes a firm stance opposing the UAE’s support for the RSF?
The Associated Press’s July 2026 investigation exposed a grim reality at the heart of Sudan’s conflict: the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have systematically recruited and trained children, with foreign fighters playing a direct role in turning minors into combatants.
The probe reveals that teenagers detained at a government-run rehabilitation centre in Khartoum described being conscripted, chained to anti-aircraft guns, beaten for disobedience, and forced to fire artillery at targets identified by drones—often civilian neighbourhoods.
Multiple children said fighters identified as “Colombians” instructed them on assault rifles, machine guns, and RPGs at RSF camps in and around Khartoum and in Darfur.
“Beyond training, Colombian private military contractors (PMCs) have operated as infantry, artillerymen, drone pilots, and vehicle drivers for the RSF, playing a critical role in pivotal battles such as the October 2025 capture of El Fasher. Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Conflict Insights Group (CIG) have documented this foreign fighting force in detail, tracing its recruitment, transit, and deployment. HRW’s 83-page report, From Bogotá to El Fasher, identifies an Abu Dhabi–based security company—Global Security Services Group (GSSG)—as the main recruiter and facilitator”, reports Associated Press.
The report alleges that GSSG, whose CEO has strong political and familial links to senior UAE officials, routed Colombian fighters through UAE military facilities (Ghiyathi and Al Wathba) before sending them to Sudan.
Despite the AU’s inaction to decisively intervene and silence by African politicians to indict the UAE, Sudan’s government has filed a case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
To halt the ongoing genocide the least expected of the AU is to embark on a continent-wide sanctions campaign against the UAE.
For as long as Abu Dhabi is permitted to continue supplying arms, financing, and logistical support to the RSF, the suffering of millions of Sudanese will not end.
If indeed the UAE’s stake in Sudan is “strategic and economic, combining long-standing ties to RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti) with incentives linked to Sudan’s gold reserves, which have flowed in increasing volumes through Emirati markets since the war began”, as argued by analysts, the prospect of peace and security of the population is bleak.
Iqbal Jassat
Executive Member
Media Review Network
Johannesburg
South Africa