Dear friends, 

CAAT recently wrote with urgency regarding the British military equipment exported to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that is being used by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to commit massacres in Sudan. 

British engines, made by Cummins Inc, found in armoured vehicles and British-made small weapons target devices made by Militec, have been discovered in combat zones in Sudan. Take action now and call for an arms embargo on the UAE!

The people of Sudan have faced a horrific civil war between the RSF and the Sudanese military since April 2023. The RSF was denounced by the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights as perpetuating genocide last year. Sudan has faced violence and instability for decades, and the role of British colonialism in this must not be ignored. 

Despite the UK government having knowledge that the UAE has diverted arms exports received from other countries to the RSF, the UAE remains one of the UK’s biggest arms customers. The British government has issued £825m worth of single export licences for arms to the UAE between 2020-2024, the 9th largest recipient in that period, in addition to open licences. This includes £219m worth of aircraft, helicopters, and drones, £293m of military electronic equipment, £112m target acquisition, weapon control and countermeasure systems, and £89m of grenades, bombs, missiles, and countermeasures.

Last week, CAAT supported Green MP Ellie Chowns to call for an immediate arms embargo on the UAE in the House of Commons. Chowns called for a full review of the UK’s export-licensing system, describing it as neither functioning nor fit for purpose.

The UK already has an arms embargo on Sudan. All UK export licence applications are supposed to be assessed for their risk of diversion to arms-embargoed countries. The British Militec small weapons target devices that were exported to the UAE would have gone through this assessment, yet still were found in Sudan. 

This demonstrates a complete failure of our government’s arms export licensing system. The time is now to call for an arms embargo on the UAE!

CAAT could not continue to campaign without everyone who supports this work. Thank you for your role in this, whether that be sharing CAAT social media posts, taking part in demonstrations, organising events with CAAT, lobbying your MP and council, or protesting against arms companies. Your donations, if you are in a financial position to be able to consider this, are instrumental as well.

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Thank you for your continued support in resisting the deadly arms trade,

Zoe and everyone at Campaign Against Arms Trade