Sudan weighs response after UAE imposes flight, shipping ban

August 9, 2025 (PORT SUDAN) – Sudan’s top security body met on Saturday to consider its response to the United Arab Emirates’ decision to bar Sudanese aircraft and ships from its territory, the council said, escalating a diplomatic crisis between the two countries.

The UAE has recently blocked Sudanese planes from landing at its airports and banned ships flying its flag from calling at Port Sudan, the country’s primary seaport. All maritime dealings, including transit shipments, were also suspended.

The Security and Defence Council, headed by army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, “reviewed the measures taken by the UAE government and the precautions that the Sudanese government must take,” it stated in a press release following the meeting.

The statement added that the Sudanese state was “capable of preserving its resources and protecting its vital interests.”

The move marks a further deterioration in relations after Sudan’s ruling council severed diplomatic ties with the UAE on May 6. At the time, it declared the Gulf state an “aggressor” following a series of drone strikes on Port Sudan that targeted an air base, a naval base, and oil facilities.

The council’s statement on Saturday also addressed internal political developments, condemning the formation of a parallel administration in the western Darfur region by an alliance led by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The council described the body as a “phantom, paper-based authority.”

The RSF-dominated “Tasis” (Founding) coalition has appointed RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, to head a new presidential council. It named rebel leader Abdelaziz al-Hilu as his deputy and former official Mohamed Hassan al-Ta’ishi as a prime minister, in a direct challenge to the authority of the Port Sudan-based government.