Sudan cuts UAE ties, declares it ‘state of aggression’
May 6, 2025 (PORT SUDAN) – Sudan’s government on Tuesday severed diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates and declared it a “state of aggression,” accusing the UAE of supplying strategic weapons to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), according to a government statement.
The decision followed what the Sudanese government described as three days of bombardment in Port Sudan, the country’s temporary administrative capital, by strategic and suicide drones. The statement said these attacks targeted oil facilities, the southern port, the Osman Digna airbase, Port Sudan’s airport, a power station, and a hotel.
The government said the attacks caused “heavy losses in property” and drew condemnation from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Djibouti, the African Union, and the United Nations.
“The Council decided to declare the United Arab Emirates a state of aggression, sever diplomatic relations with it, and withdraw the Sudanese embassy and consulate general,” Defence Minister Yassin Ibrahim said in the statement. He spoke after an emergency meeting of the Security and Defence Council, chaired by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who heads the ruling Sovereign Council.
Ibrahim said Sudan reserves the right to “respond to the aggression by all means” to preserve its sovereignty and territorial integrity, protect civilians, and ensure access to humanitarian aid.
The government statement asserted that “for more than two years,” the UAE had been committing “aggression against Sudan’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the security of its citizens” through its “local agent, the rebellious terrorist Rapid Support Forces militia and its political backer.”
It further accused the UAE of escalating support with “advanced strategic weapons” when it “became certain of the defeat of its local agent” by the Sudanese armed forces, which it called “the legitimate institution entrusted with defending the homeland.”
These weapons, the statement added, targeted “vital and service facilities,” endangering the lives and property of millions of civilians and threatening regional security, particularly in the Red Sea.
According to the statement, the RSF has used strategic drones to target civilian and military sites in northern, central, and eastern Sudan over the past two months, causing extensive damage to power stations and airports.
The defence ministry, on December 2 of last year, had previously accused the UAE of providing the RSF with strategic drones capable of carrying 50-kilogram explosive payloads and equipped with anti-jamming systems, alleging some were launched from within Chadian territory.