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Lawmakers will keep up push to block arms sales to UAE

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Sudanese people suffer humanitarian catastrophe

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UAE denies providing weapons to paramilitaries, says it

wants

peace

By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Two U.S. lawmakers will

keep trying to block arms sales to the United Arab Emirates,

having determined that the UAE is providing weapons to the

paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan's civil war,

they said on Friday.

A UAE official denied this.

The Sudanese army and the RSF together led a coup in 2021

removing Sudan's civilian leadership, but fell out less than two

years later over plans to integrate their forces. The war that

broke out between them in April 2023 has plunged half of the

population into hunger.

Senator Chris Van Hollen and Representative Sara Jacobs,

both Democrats, said in a statement to Reuters they based their

determination on a briefing from former President Joe Biden's

administration and other reporting.

"The UAE is an important partner in the Middle East, but the

United States cannot turn a blind eye to its aiding and abetting

the suffering in Sudan," Van Hollen said in a statement.

"We now know that the UAE has continued arming the RSF -

ensuring this war and this devastation goes on. The U.S. has the

opportunity to end this war and bring stability to Sudan by

withholding weapons to the UAE and essentially cutting off the

supply chain to the RSF," Jacobs said.

Asked for comment, a UAE official said the country's focus

in Sudan remains addressing the humanitarian crisis, calling for

an immediate ceasefire and peaceful resolution to the conflict.

"In this regard, the UAE has already made absolutely clear

that it is not providing any support or supplies to either of

two belligerent warring parties in Sudan," the official said.

The Biden administration had promised to provide lawmakers

an assessment by Jan. 17 - just three days before President

Donald Trump took office - on the credibility of UAE assurances

that it was not providing and would not provide weapons to the

RSF.

U.S. law requires congressional review of major arms deals,

and lets members of the Senate force votes on resolutions of

disapproval that would block such sales. Although the law does

not let House members force such votes, resolutions must pass

both chambers of Congress, and potentially survive a

presidential veto, to go into effect.

The UAE has long been a major purchaser of U.S. weapons. In

October, the Biden administration announced, for example, that

it had approved a potential sale of GMLRS and ATACMS munitions,

and related support, for $1.2 billion.

GMLRS, or Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System rockets, are

made by Lockheed Martin Corp. ( LMT ), with L3Harris

Technologies ( LHX ) producing the solid propellant rocket motor

for the system. The long-range ATACMS are made by Lockheed

Martin ( LMT ).

Van Hollen and Jacobs filed legislation in the Senate and

House of Representatives in November seeking to halt that sale.

Their effort is unlikely to win significant support in

Congress as presidents from both parties have long viewed the

UAE as a vital regional security partner. But the lawmakers hope

to draw attention to a conflict that has become one of the

world's worst humanitarian disasters.