Carney visits Abu Dhabi as alarm grows over possible UAE role in Sudan's civil war

UAE Industry Minister Sultan al-Jaber staged a grand entry for Carney, who disembarked from his plane into a brightly lit hallway flanked by uniformed soldiers holding guns.

The pair walked down the hallway to a large, rounded room where they were served tea by men in traditional clothing.

This week’s meetings are aimed at attracting investment from Emirati sovereign wealth funds and the private sector to help diversify Canada’s economy in response to the U.S. trade war.

The visit comes after years of negotiations on an investment protection agreement that could expand private sector ties between the two countries.

While Carney’s plane was en route to the region, Air Canada and the Emirates airline announced an extension to 2032 of a code-share agreement signed three years ago. A code-share agreement permits airlines to market and sell seats on partner airlines, allowing them to offer links to destinations outside their networks.

The UAE has come under mounting political pressure in recent weeks as human rights groups, a United Nations panel and Washington have accused it of supporting a Sudanese militia undertaking shocking ethnic violence — something the UAE denies.

Civil war erupted between Sudan’s army and the Rapid Support Forces in April 2023. The paramilitary RSF succeeded the Janjaweed militia that was behind the first Darfur genocide between 2003 and 2005.

The warring parties have blocked the entry of humanitarian aid and the conflict has created the world’s largest displacement crisis.

In January, the outgoing administration of U.S. President Joe Biden said the RSF was committing a new genocide in the Darfur region. It sanctioned companies in the United Arab Emirates accused of providing arms to the militants with government support.

Canada has not joined the U.S. in calling the crisis in Sudan a genocide.

In recent months, RSF members have posted gruesome social media videos showing them attacking ethnic groups and staging mass shootings in hospital rooms. Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab says satellite images show pools of blood on the ground, suggesting mass killings at multiple sites.

Rights groups say they believe aircraft meant to carry humanitarian aid from the UAE to Sudan are regularly delivering weapons instead. They cite the number of flights arriving in the region and the documented appearance of weaponry labelled with UAE shipment details, and point out that gold continues to be exported from Sudan to the UAE.

Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington is aware that a specific country had been supporting the RSF and said the unnamed country needs to stop. His statement was widely interpreted as a rebuke of the UAE.

Nicholas Coghlan, a former Canadian ambassador to Sudan, said he has been surprised to see the Carney government refuse to single out the UAE in public statements.

Coghlan argued it would not cause a diplomatic row if Carney publicly called on the UAE to respect an existing UN arms embargo on the Darfur region.

“There seems to be an excessive pussyfooting around, trying not to offend anybody,” he said in an interview.

“The Emirates are a key player in this. It’s simply undeniable — although they deny it — they are the principal and major backer of the RSF, who are the certainly the most culpable of the two parties.”

The UAE ambassador to Canada was not available for an interview, but his delegation wrote in a media statement that it condemns violence by the RSF.

“We categorically reject any claims of providing any form of support to either warring party since the onset of the civil war,” the embassy wrote.

While a UN panel of experts on Sudan has said there are “credible” reports of the UAE arming the RSF, the embassy argued the report “makes clear that there is no substantiated evidence that the UAE has provided any support to RSF, or has any involvement in the conflict.”

The embassy also said that it follows global standards to track gold shipments and avoid fuelling conflict — standards which “have enabled us to earn the confidence of exporters from around the world.”

Coghlan said Canada will hurt its reputation for defending the rules-based international order if it doesn’t ask the UAE to respect the arms embargo and seriously investigate advocacy groups’ claims that Canadian arms are reaching Sudan through the UAE.

“Those who are watching Sudan will be watching the prime minister’s visit carefully,” he said. “This is hardly a breach of diplomatic protocol to call on an ally to abide by a (UN) Security Council resolution.”

He said the lack of global pressure has allowed the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces to create a cycle of violence which threatens to engulf neighbouring countries.

“If the squeeze had really been put on the UAE a year ago — before they had ramped up all of the arms sales — we would not have had the genocide that is, I would say, indisputably underway in Darfur,” Coghlan said.

Carney is expected to meet Thursday and Friday with senior government and business officials in Abu Dhabi before flying to South Africa for the G20 leaders’ summit this weekend.

Global Affairs Canada’s online country profile says the UAE has “a strong and diverse partnership” with Canada that touches on trade, “strengthening regional and global security” and poverty reduction in other countries, including for women and girls. The UAE was a primary partner in Canada’s resettlement of Afghans after the Taliban takeover of Kabul in 2021.

The wealthy oil-producing state has invested in green technology and fighting climate change through its massive sovereign wealth funds, which Global Affairs Canada says “have already deployed significant capital in Canada.” Ottawa sees the potential for investment from the UAE in sectors like energy, information technology, infrastructure and health care.

Canada exports arms, aerospace products, motor vehicles and vegetables to the UAE, while more than half of Canada’s imports from the Emirates involve iron, steel and aluminum, or products made from those metals.

Canadian exports to the UAE have shifted in recent years, with the Emirates taking in large amounts of canola after China restricted imports of Canada’s crop between 2019 and 2021. Analysts believe much of the canola reaching UAE in recent years was re-exported to China.

Both Canada and the UAE say they seek to advance human rights globally, but each government interprets that concept differently. The UAE is a predominantly Muslim country that sees itself as pushing back against oppressive forms of Islam in other countries.