“Inside the Secret Network Fueling Sudan’s War”: Filmmaker Julia Steers on UAE Backing RSF Atrocities


Seg sudan docs

A new investigation has uncovered how the United Arab Emirates (UAE) supports a secret network of military training camps for the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that enables them to continue their deadly war in Sudan.

“This war, which is often categorized in international media as a civil war, is really a proxy war,” says award-winning journalist and documentary filmmaker Julia Steers. “We’re talking about a really extensive network of logistics and training and financial backing from the UAE.”

The investigation is a collaboration between Lighthouse Reports, Evident, Sudan War Monitor and Der Spiegel.

Meanwhile, as the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warns another humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding the North Kordofan state capital of El Obeid, where the RSF and the Sudanese army are fighting for control. “There’s no question that the RSF would not be able to have gotten as far as they have, to have claimed nearly as much territory as they have, without the really robust support of the UAE,” says Steers.


This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.