Investigation Links Top Emirati Official to Supplier of Mercenaries in Sudan
Ties between UAE presidential aide and Colombian 'Desert Wolves'
The United Arab Emirates’ top bureaucrat has close ties to the company that is sending Colombian mercenaries to Sudan, according to a new investigation by The Sentry, a research organization that tracks corruption.
Ahmed Mohamed Al Humairi, the secretary general of the UAE’s Presidential Court, founded and once fully owned the security company that is supplying Colombian fighters to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Despite efforts to publicly distance himself from the company by divesting his shares, he remains closely linked to its current CEO, suggesting an ongoing relationship.
The report states, “This connection to a senior Emirati government official—who holds a position equivalent to the White House chief of staff—is further evidence of the high-level linkages between the UAE and the RSF, which has been accused of committing genocide in Sudan.”
The report details a web of business relationships between Al Humairi, the long-standing secretary general of the presidential court in the UAE, and Mohamed Hamdan Al Zaabi, the Emirati businessman accused of supplying mercenaries via his firm Global Security Services Group (GSSG).
These revelations follow reports of horrific atrocities in El Fasher, North Darfur, where Colombian mercenaries have been fighting alongside the RSF, according to videos verified by Sudan War Monitor and other news outlets.
The Sentry’s report is part of a growing body of evidence linking the government of the United Arab Emirates with Sudan’s RSF through a variety of intermediaries, including prominent Emirati businessmen. In a previous report (“The RSF’s Business Network in the UAE”), The Sentry detailed the activities of RSF front companies operating in the UAE.
In a press release, Nick Donovan, Investigator at The Sentry, said that the ties between Al Zaabi and Al Humairi “could be an indicator of support for the militia [the RSF] at the highest levels of the UAE government. The relationship raises the question: Who is paying Alzaabi’s firm to supply mercenaries?”
Among Sudanese, it is widely believed that the UAE government is footing the bill for the Colombian mercenaries fighting in Darfur. Although there is no paper trail to prove this, The Sentry reported that Colombians deployed to Sudan have been trained in drone warfare in Abu Dhabi and rotated through a UAE-controlled military base at Bosaso in Puntland, Somalia.
Additionally, The Sentry pointed out that the UAE has employed foreign mercenaries—including Colombians—in past conflicts in Yemen and Libya:
“GSSG’s role in providing Colombian fighters to serve in Darfur is part of a wider trend in the UAE, where foreign soldiers play significant roles. First, like the French Foreign Legion, the UAE recruits foreigners into its own armed forces… In addition, the UAE has been known to deploy fully formed mercenary units to fight overseas on its behalf.”
The Sentry, which is a U.S. nonprofit organization, called for the United States, European Union, and the United Kingdom to investigate GSSC and its CEO, Mohamed Hamdan Alzaabi, as well as several Colombian entities and individuals, and potentially to impose financial sanctions on them.
John Prendergast, Co-Founder of The Sentry, said:
“El Fasher is experiencing some of the most horrific war crimes in the world today, undoubtedly made worse by mercenaries. Governments should urgently further investigate these businessmen and companies and impose sanctions if they are currently supplying mercenaries to support the brutal Rapid Support Forces militia.”
Why Colombians
GSSG has employed more than 300 Colombian soldiers in Darfur, according to reporting by La Silla Vacía, a Columbian news outlet. But this mission is not sanctioned by the Colombian government. Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro has denounced “mercenarismo” and apologized to Sudan’s government.
Former Colombian soldiers are valued as mercenaries because of their combat training and willingness to work for lower pay than Western military contractors. Decades of internal conflict in Colombia with the Marxist FARC and other guerrilla groups have produced a large pool of experienced military veterans. The Colombian troops in Darfur have operated in both combat and support roles. Videos from El Fasher show them engaged in frontline combat, as well as medical duties. They have also trained thousands of RSF fighters.
Why the UAE Support the RSF
Officially, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) denies supporting the RSF, preferring to keep its involvement in Sudan covert. However, the UAE’s foreign ministry has been publicly critical of Sudan’s military junta, which it refers to as the “Port Sudan Authority” rather than the Government of Sudan. Emirati influencers on social media, as well as journalists and prominent foreign policy thinkers, have adopted the same tone, criticizing the Sudanese military while often defending the RSF or ignoring its war crimes.
The reasons for this attitude are ideological, commercial, and cultural. The UAE government generally opposes Islamist political parties, such as the Muslim Brotherhood. It has adopted an activist stance in the region to battle Islamist ideology and groups that it perceives to be extremist. The UAE views Sudan’s military-led government as being too close to Islamist politicians, including the National Islamic Front (later rebranded as the National Congress Party), which ruled Sudan from 1989 to 2019 and continues to be influential behind the scenes (though it is no longer officially in power).
The UAE also has commercial ties with the RSF. The paramilitary illegally exports large quantities of gold to Dubai, evading export controls and duties.
Lastly, there are military reasons for the alliance. UAE officials in the security sector value the RSF as a long-term source of mercenary manpower. They established relationships with the RSF during the Yemen and Libya wars, and they are reluctant to abandoned their ally. If the RSF are defeated in the ongoing Sudanese civil war, the UAE will lose a key source of cheap mercenary labor, which it can employ throughout the Middle East and Africa to pursue its commercial and ideological agenda.
Despite these motivations, the UAE’s support for the RSF has puzzled some political analysts, since it is risking its international reputation by backing a group accused of war crimes and genocide. The UAE and Sudan are not close neighbors, nor significant trading partners (as a share of the UAE’s total trade volume). Eventually, the reputational cost of continuing to support the RSF could cause the UAE to alter its calculus.
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