FairSquare has repeated its request to the UK government to investigate the links between Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan, following the release of the latest findings of independent experts, which conclusively and unequivocally identify the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the key provider of weapons, fighters and supplies to the RSF.
FairSquare’s original complaint, filed on 7 April 2026, detailed the central role of the UAE government in fuelling the Sudanese civil war, and the evidence that points to Sheikh Mansour having played a central role in the UAE’s dealings with the RSF, who are accused of committing genocide. Sheikh Mansour is the Deputy Prime Minister of the UAE and the owner of Manchester City FC in the UK. In its response to FairSquare’s original submission on 30 April 2026, the FCDO stated:
“Over a dozen states are enabling the conflict or supplying weapons. As the Foreign Secretary made clear in her statement on 19 February, ‘We urgently need an end to arms flows. Reports into breaches of the [UN] arms embargo which we agree should be extended and enforced, must be investigated.’”
The UK government’s inference is that there is no need for it to investigate the UAE’s specific role in the conflict, since it is just one of numerous states fueling the conflict in Sudan. However, the evidence detailed in our original submission, which is drawn from multiple highly credible organisations, clearly suggests that the UAE is by far the most significant external actor, and on 3 September 2026, the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan published a report that provides further conclusive evidence of this.
In its report, titled “Fuelling Sudan’s conflict: weapons, fighters and external support networks”, the UN Fact-Finding Mission repeatedly identifies the UAE as the main culprit in the provision of weapons, fighters and supplies to the RSF.
The 20-page report is replete with references to the UAE’s role and clearly indicates that the UAE is managing interconnected air, land, and maritime supply routes linking individuals and entities located in Chad, southeastern Libya, and Puntland in Somalia.
The UAE is further referenced in relation to the provision of weapons, drones and logistical support, transit and facilitation, the recruitment of Colombian contractors, transit routes, training, and operational deployment. The report provides numerous significant examples. Paragraph 84 of the report states, for example:
“The evidence identified Bosaso, Somalia, as a recurring logistical hub and transit point used by external actors to date, including United Arab Emirates-based individuals and entities, for personnel and cargo destined for Rapid Support Forces-controlled areas. Sources described Ilyushin-76 cargo flights linking Bosaso, Kufra, Benghazi, and Chad from which cargo and personnel were subsequently transferred into Sudan. Witnesses further reported that United Arab Emirates-based individuals and entities maintained facilities in Bosaso, including a military base through which foreign contractors transited.”
The UN Fact-Finding Mission mission issued the following conclusion:
“Based on the totality of the evidence…the mission finds that individuals and entities operating from, registered in, or linked to the United Arab Emirates played a significant role in networks involved in the recruitment, financing, transportation and deployment of foreign military contractors and the provision of military-related support benefiting the Rapid Support Forces. This support sustained Rapid Support Forces’ military operations during a conflict marked by serious violations of international humanitarian law, international human rights law, and the commission of international crimes. This was particularly clear in El-Fasher.”
In July 2026, the UK government sanctioned those suspected of being linked to financing, procurement, and commercial networks fuelling the Sudan conflict. This included, for the first time, entities and individuals located in the UAE. Last week, the UK again sanctioned senior commanders implicated in what it described as a “campaign of rape” in Sudan.
FairSquare welcomes these steps. However, as the UN Fact Finding Mission makes clear, external actors and in particular the UAE, are sustaining the operations of the RSF, and therefore it is those individuals who must face sanctions in order to hold to account those fuelling the conflict.
Mohannad Tana, founder of Manchester For Sudan said:
“The UK government has repeatedly said it wants to hold those fuelling the war in Sudan to account, yet it continues to ignore the role of the UAE, whose backing of the RSF has enabled them to commit human rights violations and war crimes. Sheikh Mansour, Manchester City’s owner has been personally involved in providing this support and must be sanctioned as a matter of priority to make clear that Britain will no longer acquiesce to Emirati pressure to ignore, and cover for, their fatal meddling in Sudan.”
Yaslam Al-Tayeb, a UK based Sudanese-Dutch businessman who survived RSF detention and abuses in April 2023, said:
“As a victim and survivor of the RSF, I believe the UK government must act against those providing support to this militia. I’ve experienced first hand the violence they are capable of and have inflicted on thousands of civilians across Sudan. The UAE has played a key role in providing the genocidal RSF, including Sheikh Mansour who met with the RSF’s leader just weeks before the outbreak of the war and my detention. The UK government has a responsibility to act and impose sanctions against him”.
