Late one night in April 2025, a Colombian private military contractor departed Abu Dhabi under extraordinary secrecy, smuggled through the back entrance of the airport after receiving combat training at an Emirati military base. His flight made a brief stop in eastern Chad before landing in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur and then the operational headquarters of the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group credibly accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan’s devastating civil war. The contractor was among hundreds of Colombian mercenaries recruited to fight alongside the RSF, according to a new Human Rights Watch investigation that has intensified scrutiny of the United Arab Emirates’ role in prolonging one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
The security company at the center of the recruitment operation, Global Security Services Group, is based in Abu Dhabi and maintains extensive political, business and familial connections to the highest levels of Emirati leadership. Yet despite mounting evidence of UAE involvement in a conflict that has displaced 14 million people and forced 4.4 million to flee Sudan entirely, the European Union has steadfastly avoided naming the Gulf state in its public statements. Instead, Brussels continues issuing carefully worded condemnations that refer only to vague “external actors” fueling the violence, a diplomatic hedge that critics say prioritizes economic interests over accountability for atrocities that UN investigators believe bear the hallmarks of genocide.
Human Rights Watch researchers traced Colombian fighters to El Fasher, the North Darfur capital that fell to RSF forces in October 2025 after months of siege. Foreign combatants stood by as RSF militiamen massacred civilians, including disabled individuals, and abducted scores of people for ransom in s that shocked international observers. El Fasher had been the last major city in the region under government control, and its capture marked a turning point in a war that has now entered its third year with no resolution in sight. The violence has created ripple effects across neighboring countries and Europe itself, with approximately 14,000 Sudanese refugees reaching European shores in 2024 and 2025 alone, while millions more face discrimination, abuse and desperate conditions in transit countries across North and East Africa.
Emirati authorities continue to issue blanket denials of involvement despite the accumulation of evidence. Yet the UAE operates one of the world’s most centralized and technologically sophisticated security states, employing advanced surveillance systems that make it implausible that foreign military contractors could move through sensitive military installations and government facilities without official knowledge or sanction. European diplomats privately acknowledge pursuing “quiet engagement” with Abu Dhabi on Sudan and other contentious issues, including the Emirates’ notorious suppression of domestic dissent. Current concerns are channeled through largely ineffective bilateral human rights dialogues, an approach that has produced no meaningful ce in the nine years since Emirati authorities imprisoned Ahmed Mansoor, the country’s most prominent human rights defender, or in the three years since Sudan’s conflict began.
The reluctance to confront the UAE publicly reflects Europe’s deepening economic and security entanglements with the Gulf state. Bilateral trade negotiations continue apace, and European capitals view Abu Dhabi as an essential partner on energy security, counterterrorism and regional ility. Yet this strategic calculus comes at a cost that Sudanese civilians are paying with their lives. Advocacy organizations argue that the EU possesses significant leverage through ongoing trade talks and could use these negotiations to demand an end to RSF support and broader improvements in the UAE’s human rights record. Targeted sanctions against entities like Global Security Services Group and its leadership, along with an EU wide arms embargo, represent concrete steps that could signal a shift from performative concern to genuine accountability.
As Sudan’s humanitarian catastrophe deepens and evidence of external interference becomes irrefutable, Europe faces a credibility test on whether its stated commitment to human rights and international law extends beyond convenient targets. Breaking the diplomatic silence on UAE involvement would carry risks for European interests in the Gulf, but continuing to issue toothless statements that carefully avoid naming responsible parties undermines the EU’s moral authority and practical effectiveness. Whether Brussels finds the political will to match its humanitarian rhetoric with meaningful pressure on a wealthy ally may determine not only the trajectory of Sudan’s crisis but also the coherence of European foreign policy in an increasingly multipolar world where difficult choices between values and interests can no longer be deferred.
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