US senator calls for halt to UAE arms sales over Sudan war

August 6, 2026 (WASHINGTON) – A senior U.S. lawmaker called on the administration to pause arms sales to the United Arab Emirates, citing its continued support for a Sudanese paramilitary group accused of genocide.

Senator Chris Van Hollen, speaking following a classified briefing on Capitol Hill, said the United States must leverage its weapons transfers to force Abu Dhabi to stop backing the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The RSF has been locked in a devastating conflict with the Sudanese army, creating what international observers describe as one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.

Van Hollen, a Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, noted that the U.S. government has formally determined the “murderous” RSF is committing genocide in Sudan.

He highlighted mass atrocities in El Fasher, where the paramilitary group killed an estimated 6,000 people over three days last October, warning that a similar catastrophe is mounting around the besieged city of El Obeid.

About 500,000 people in El Obeid currently face severe risk as paramilitary forces surround the municipality, according to Van Hollen.

The lawmaker stated that he and 20 Senate colleagues have urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Trump administration to condition military sales to the Gulf nation on a complete halt to its support for the paramilitary group.

He stressed they requested Rubio to make it clear they will “pause U.S. arms sales to the UAE so long as they are arming this murderous, genocidal group, the RSF. It’s a simple thing we, the United States, can do to prevent a massacre in Sudan.”

Washington remains one of the primary suppliers of defence equipment to the UAE, while Abu Dhabi has consistently faced international criticism over its alleged military and financial backing of the RSF.