Dear Friend,

Last week, after a brutal 18-month siege, the city of El Fasher in Sudan fell to the paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Reports of atrocities, including long-predicted genocidal mass killings, followed the North Darfur city’s fall to the RSF.

The catastrophic events of the past week follow many months of escalating violence in El Fasher, including the emergence of Colombian mercenaries—calling themselves the Desert Wolves—who joined the siege and trained child soldiers for the genocidal paramilitary group.

This week, we’ve released two pieces revealing the role of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the conflict: a new essay in The New York Times, co-authored by The Sentry’s John Prendergast, and an investigation that reveals new evidence tying the UAE’s most senior bureaucrat to the businessman supplying Colombian mercenaries to the RSF militia in Sudan.

The longtime business relationship between the two men seems to indicate support for the militia at the highest levels of the UAE government. It raises the question: Who is paying to supply the mercenaries?

As the UAE publicly denies its involvement in the war, The Sentry has continued to expose new information about the country’s ties to the conflict. Today’s New York Times essay by John Prendergast lays out the case for urgent international action by a number of American individuals, companies, and organizations that have leverage with the UAE, the main provider of arms and support to the RSF. 

We will continue to gather evidence, bring the truth forward, and demand meaningful international action that can stop the slaughter.

In solidarity,

Justyna Gudzowska
Executive Director, The Sentry