An Emirati official told the Financial Times that the Gulf country is “not taking sides” in the war in Sudan.

The United Arab Emirates has denied arming the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in its war against the Sudanese army, the Financial Times reported, after a leaked UN report said it had “credible” evidence that the Gulf country was using the forces militarily supported paramilitary group.

According to the UN document, evidence suggested that the UAE had sent weapons to the RSF via Amdjarass in northern Chad “several times a week”.

The UAE “is not taking sides in the current conflict,” an Emirati official told the British newspaper on Wednesday. The country has “consistently called for de-escalation, a sustainable ceasefire and the establishment of a diplomatic dialogue” in Sudan, the source said.

The UN report, which has not yet been published, was prepared by experts for the UN Security Council.

In a letter to observers, the UAE said 122 flights brought humanitarian aid to Amdjarass to help Sudanese fleeing the war.

Last week, a UAE official told Reuters that he had invited the UN observers to visit a field hospital in Amdjarass “to see first-hand the UAE’s humanitarian efforts to address the suffering caused by the current conflict.” alleviate”.

The RSF, led by Mohamad Hamdan Dagalo, has been waging a brutal war against the country’s army led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan for more than nine months. The war has left about half of Sudan’s 49 million people in need of aid and more than 7.5 million have fled their homes, according to the United Nations.

Dagalo controls most of Sudan’s western Darfur region and parts of the capital Khartoum. The RSF also recently took control of Wad Madani, one of the largest cities in Sudan.

The paramilitary group, along with Arab armed groups, was accused of killing up to 15,000 non-Arabs from the Masalit tribe in attacks that “could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity,” the report said.

The RSF has previously denied the allegations and said any of its soldiers involved would be brought to justice.

“The attacks were planned, coordinated and carried out by RSF and its allied Arab militias,” the sanctions monitors wrote in their annual report to the 15-member Security Council.

In December, the United States officially determined that the warring parties in Sudan had committed war crimes and that the RSF and allied militias had also committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.

The UN report said: “Complex financial networks established by RSF before and during the war enabled it to acquire weapons, pay salaries, finance media campaigns, lobby and secure the support of other political and armed groups to buy.”

It added that the paramilitary group used proceeds from its pre-war gold business to create a network of up to 50 companies in various industries.

Since the war began, “most of the gold previously exported to the United Arab Emirates has now been smuggled into Egypt,” the observers said.

The RSF’s new firepower “had a massive impact on the balance of power, both in Darfur and other regions of Sudan,” the report said.

The European Council (EC) Sanctions imposed on six companies because of their alleged involvement in financing and arming both warring parties.

The sanctioned companies included three companies controlled by the Sudanese army, including the Defense Industries System group, which had an estimated turnover of $2 billion in 2020, according to Brussels.

The other three sanctioned companies were involved in the procurement of military equipment for the RSF.

The war has left nearly half of Sudan’s 49 million people in need of aid: more than 7.5 million people have fled their homes, making Sudan the world’s largest displacement crisis, and famine is increasing.