The UAE is using one of the world's most famous symbols of aid, the Red Crescent, an analogue of the Red Cross, as a cover for their secret operation to launch drones into Sudan and smuggle weapons to militants, the newspaper claimed.
The UAE is using an airport on the Sudanese border near a Red Crescent hospital to launch sophisticated military drones that provide the RSF with battlefield intelligence and to escort arms shipments into Sudan, according to the publication's sources.
According to Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International and a former Obama and Biden administration official, aid agencies are "particularly incensed" by the Emirates' actions, accusing them of conducting a "Potemkin aid operation" to disguise their support for the RSF.
According to five unnamed US officials, the US has privately tried to persuade the UAE to end its covert operations in Sudan.
Since April 15 last year, heavy fighting has been going on in Sudan between the RSF under the command of Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo and the regular army. The sides are exchanging contradictory statements about the success of the fighting and control of objects, launching a large-scale information war in the media and social networks. The International Committee of the Red Cross said that the ongoing fighting in the country could lead to outbreaks of diseases and a fatal collapse of the health system. According to the UN International Organization for Migration, the number of internally displaced people in Sudan has exceeded 10 million.