US House panel condemns UAE support for RSF training camp in Ethiopia

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - WASHINGTON — The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee has condemned the United Arab Emirates’ support and financing of a Rapid Support Forces (RSF) training camp in Ethiopia, warning that such external backing risks further escalating Sudan’s brutal conflict.

In a post on the social media platform X, the committee said that “such external support only fuels the brutal conflict in Sudan.”

Rep. Gregory Meeks, the ranking member of the committee, will continue to suspend all major U.S. arms sales to the UAE and to any country supporting the RSF or other parties involved in the war, the committee said.

Rep. Sara Jacobs separately described the humanitarian crisis in Sudan as “catastrophic,” noting that millions of civilians face threats to their lives amid insecurity, lack of shelter, food, water and medicine.

She called for an immediate halt to U.S. arms sales and urged efforts to remove all external actors from the conflict, “starting with the United Arab Emirates.”

The statements follow a Reuters report citing satellite imagery and internal documents alleging that Ethiopia is hosting a secret camp used to train thousands of RSF fighters.

According to the report, an internal memo reviewed by Reuters alleged that the UAE provided military supplies to the RSF inside Ethiopian territory.

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The camp reportedly includes a drone ground control center and hosts around 4,300 fighters, including Ethiopians and nationals from South Sudan, with increased activity observed in Ethiopia’s Benishangul-Gumuz region near the Sudanese border.

Reuters reported that accusations by the Sudanese Armed Forces that the UAE has supplied weapons to the RSF have been considered credible by some U.N. experts.

The report also cited sightings of trucks bearing the logo of an Emirati company near the camp and referenced alleged UAE financing for upgrades to a nearby Ethiopian airport used for logistical support.

Based on satellite images, the report described the camp as the first direct evidence — according to the news agency — of Ethiopia’s involvement in Sudan’s civil war, a development that could widen the conflict and provide the RSF with a fresh influx of fighters as clashes intensify in southern Sudan.

Sudan’s war, which erupted in 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF, has triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, displacing millions and destabilizing parts of the region.