'We all made a mistake' UAE distances itself from brutal RSF paramilitaries

The United Arab Emirates' diplomatic machine is for the first time admitting to mistakes in its Sudan policy after suffering reputational damage over its support for the Rapid Support Forces, the Sudanese paramilitary group that has carried out mass killings in El Fasher since it captured the city late last month.

- Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor

Speaking in Bahrain on Sunday, Anwar Gargash, the UAE's senior diplomatic envoy, said the UAE and others had been wrong not to impose sanctions on the instigators of the 2021 coup - led jointly by the RSF and the army - that overthrew Sudan's transitional civilian government. "We all made a mistake when the two generals who are fighting the civil war today overthrew the civilian government," Gargash said.

"That was, looking back, a critical mistake. We should have put our foot down collectively. We did not call it a coup."

It is a striking reversal. The UAE actively undermined the idea of a strong civilian democratic government in Sudan in the aftermath of the popular uprising that led to the downfall of the 30-year, Islamist-aligned dictatorship of Omar al-Bashir in April 2019.

Throughout 2019 "in the interests of a stable transition" the UAE and Saudi Arabia tried to enhance the role of the military and marginalise civilian rule, including by promoting the idea that the RSF commander, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, should be in charge of economic policy.

In a piece of bailout diplomacy, Saudi Arabia and the Emiratis quickly agreed a $3bn loan to the transitional military council that initially tried to succeed Bashir. In late 2019, when the civilian side of the government had the upper hand, further payouts from the loan were stopped.