Kenya’s increasing involvement with both the United Arab Emirates and the paramilitary group Abu Dhabi backs in Sudan – the Rapid Support Forces – bodes ill for the country. That is the warning from Ahmed Maglad, a Sudanese doctor. He points to Chad and the Central African Republic, as well as his own country, all of which have been victims of the RSF. He predicts Kenya’s president William Ruto will end up a UAE puppet, like – he claims – Chad’s leader.
Kenya has allegedly been used as a conduit between the UAE and the RSF. A Reuters report claimed that planes shipping weapons to the genocidal militia have often used Mombasa as a transit point. Kenya is also a key player in the gold-smuggling business according to the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, with high-ranking officials implicated – and the UAE being the biggest customer. Nairobi has also shielded the RSF politically – for example, with the red-carpet welcome accorded to RSF chief Hemedti in January 2024 and the recent platforming of the paramilitary, as it outlined plans to carve up Sudan with a rival government in RSF-controlled areas. Ruto even reportedly shared a flight with Hemedti’s brother Abdulrahim Dagalo in November 2024.
Since their emergence in the early 2000s, the RSF – formerly known as the Janjaweed – has been synonymous with heinous human-rights abuses and war crimes, including genocide. Its war against the Sudanese military has created what the UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis – with 13-million displaced and half the country facing acute food insecurity. In May 2024, the US envoy to Sudan estimated that up to 150,000 people had already been killed.
video credit: https://x.com/McLad84/status/1893100154204373139
Sources
https://www.ipcinfo.org/ipc-country-analysis/details-map/en/c/1157066/?iso3=SDN