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SOIn a powerful intervention at the Pan-African Parliament, Somali scholar and MP Professor Abdi Ismail Samatar called for the United Arab Emirates to be sanctioned and barred from all African political forums. He argued that the UAE-backed Rapid Support Forces militia is committing g*nocide in Sudan, comparing the petro-monarchy to the Apartheid regime in South Africa and the white settler regime that once ruled Rhodesia — both of which terrorised and dispossessed Black Africans.
The Pan-African Parliament is an organ of the African Union, which makes the AU’s growing partnership with the UAE especially alarming. Even as the UAE finances ethnic cleansing and mass displacement in Sudan, an African Union Commission delegation recently travelled to Abu Dhabi to deepen a “strategic partnership” with the Emirati government. The UAE’s investments in Africa are not acts of solidarity. They are mechanisms of extraction. From minerals to agriculture to ports, the UAE is securing control over Africa’s resources and strategic trade routes, strengthening its influence while deepening the dependency of African states. This is sub-imperialism disguised as “development”.
We see the consequences in Sudan and far beyond: indigenous communities expelled from their land, armed groups empowered, and a minority of African elites willing to trade away sovereignty for personal gain.
Africa does not lack resources. It lacks leadership that refuses to be bought. Politicians with the principled courage of Professor Samatar are needed now more than ever.
#PanAfrican #UAE #RSF #SouthAfrica #Sudan #Sovereignty #Resources #FreeSudan #KeepEyesOnSudan
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