Ottawa urged to stop weapons flow to Sudan as Carney prepares UAE visit

Human rights groups say they believe planes meant to carry humanitarian aid from the UAE to Sudan are regularly delivering weapons instead, including possibly Canadian-made arms.

As Prime Minister Mark Carney prepares to visit the United Arab Emirates, human rights advocates are calling on his government to do more to stop the flow of weapons from the UAE to a militia in Sudan committing atrocious acts of ethnic violence.

While the UAE insists it isn’t arming the Rapid Support Forces militia, numerous human rights groups say they believe planes meant to carry humanitarian aid from the UAE to Sudan are regularly delivering weapons instead.

Some groups say they believe these shipments include Canadian-made arms.

“Governments like Canada have both an opportunity to show what the values that we speak of these days so loudly, what they actually mean when they’re put to test,” said World Vision Canada’s policy director Martin Fischer.

“Canadian-made weapons and components are fuelling conflict in Sudan. And it really isn’t sufficient for the government to say that the existing arms-export regime is world-class, when reality shows that it’s very different.”

Carney said on Oct. 16 that he “will be travelling to the UAE on the way to the G20” summit, which takes place Nov. 22.

Civil war between Sudan’s army and the Rapid Support Forces erupted in April 2023. The paramilitary RSF succeeded the Janjaweed militia which undertook the first Darfur genocide between 2003 and 2005.

Both warring parties have blocked the entry of humanitarian aid. The war has put more than 30 million people in desperate need of aid, including 16 million children.