The European Parliament‘s 27 November 2025 resolution on Sudan’s civil war and humanitarian catastrophe stands as a shameful abdication of duty, condemning atrocities by Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) while deliberately purging all references to the United Arab Emirates a primary external enabler accused of arming RSF genocide perpetrators. This calculated omission, exposed by Euronews amid UAE Minister Lana Nusseibeh’s Strasbourg lobbying blitz, reveals a Parliament rotten with foreign influence, betraying 25 million famine victims in the world’s worst crisis for Gulf trade favors.
Damning Evidence Ignored by Parliament
Credible probes demolish any pretext for silence. A leaked April 2025 UN Panel of Experts report details UAE-Chad smuggling networks breaching arms embargoes under Resolutions 1556 and 1591, funneling sophisticated weapons into Darfur. Amnesty International’s May 2025 forensics identified UAE-re-exported Chinese GB50A guided bombs and Norinco AH-4 howitzers powering RSF drone strikes and precision killings in Khartoum and El Fasher. Sky News footage captured UAE planes at Nyala unloading technicals via Adre crossings, while RSF gold mines over five in Darfur feed UAE hubs in a war-sustaining loop.
Sudanese SAF General Yasser al-Atta exposed the rot:
“The world has been silent regarding all the RSF has done in Sudan. This silence was bought by the power of the UAE’s money.”
The IIFFM documented RSF genocide-like acts on 26 October 2025, amplified by UAE drones, displacing 11.2 million amid mass rapes and starvation.
Parliament’s Spineless Capitulation to Lobbying
Parliamentary sources confirm EPP negotiators, backed by conservatives and far-right ECR, excised UAE mentions post-Nusseibeh’s 24-27 November meetings with President Roberta Metsola and key MEPs. Leftist S&D amendments demanding UAE dismantle RSF networks and halt EU trade talks were crushed, despite calling out embargo breaches. S&Ds decried: the text “fails to explicitly mention the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and its role in fuelling the war,” despite “credible investigations” of arms and finance violations.
Dutch EPP chief negotiator Ingeborg Ter Laak dodged Euronews queries, while Austrian EPP MEP Lukas Mandl rationalized:
“I have always been against the naming-and-shaming… We should make the UAE a part of the solution.”
This farce retained only UAE’s Quad role as “mediation format,” as Nusseibeh gloated.
UAE Denials Crumble Under Scrutiny
UAE officials claim:
“The UAE categorically rejects any claims of providing any form of support… and condemns atrocities committed by both [SAF] and RSF.”
Yet Amnesty’s bomb fragments (2024-marked) and UN leaks prove re-exports breach the Arms Trade Treaty, with UAE dominating 40% of Africa’s illicit gold RSF’s lifeline. Parliament’s vague “external interference” plea lacks teeth, shielding manipulators as 150,000 die.
Institutional Betrayal and Moral Collapse
By sanitizing the resolution, Parliament forfeits human rights credibility, endorsing Quad whitewash while RSF rapes hundreds of children per UNICEF and starves millions. S&Ds thundered:
“It’s a disgrace that the EPP teamed up with the far right to deny this reality.”
This EPP-ECR pact prioritizes €100B EU-UAE trade over ICC genocide probes, risking Horn spillovers and refugee floods. Demand immediate Ethics investigations and text reinstatement Parliament’s legacy is complicity in slaughter.
The Lobbying Blitz: Nusseibeh’s Strasbourg Conquest
Euronews exposed how UAE envoy Lana Nusseibeh orchestrated a “lobbying blitz” during the Parliament plenary. Arriving in Strasbourg on 24 November, she met President Roberta Metsola, then EPP negotiator Ingeborg Ter Laak, S&D’s Marit Maij, and Austrian EPP MEP Lukas Mandl staying until the 27 November vote. Parliamentary sources confirmed the European People’s Party (EPP), backed by conservatives and far-right ECR, excised UAE references after her interventions. Leftist amendments demanding UAE dismantle RSF networks and halt EU trade talks were voted down.
Nusseibeh’s campaign targeted key decision-makers, turning them into enablers who sanitized the resolution at Sudan’s expense. Their roles demand scrutiny amid evidence of UAE’s RSF fueling.
1. Ingeborg Ter Laak: EPP Chief Negotiator’s Complicit Silence
Ingeborg Ter Laak, the Dutch EPP MEP serving as chief negotiator for the Sudan resolution, stands as a primary enabler of UAE influence, prioritizing Gulf economic ties over Sudanese lives. Despite mounting evidence from Amnesty International’s May 2025 report documenting UAE-re-exported Chinese GB50A guided bombs and AH-4 howitzers fueling RSF atrocities in Darfur and Khartoum, Ter Laak spearheaded the excision of all UAE references. Parliamentary sources confirm she capitulated to Lana Nusseibeh’s lobbying blitz, ignoring UN Panel of Experts’ leaked findings on arms smuggling via UAE-Chad routes breaching Resolutions 1556 and 1591.
Ter Laak’s evasion is stark: she ignored Euronews queries on her role, dodging accountability while EPP, backed by ECR far-right, voted down S&D amendments demanding UAE dismantle RSF networks. This decision shields a state accused by Sudan at the ICJ in April 2025 of genocide complicity through gold smuggling 40% of Africa’s illicit flows and drone supplies enabling El Fasher’s October 2025 massacre. Critics argue her silence betrays the Parliament’s human rights mandate, as RSF’s UAE-backed techniclas and Wing Loong II drones perpetuated famine displacing 11.2 million.
Her actions exemplify EPP’s pattern of Gulf appeasement: EU-UAE trade surged to €100 billion in 2024, funding UAE’s €10 billion EU investments that buy diplomatic cover. Sudanese SAF General Yasser al-Atta decried such complicity:
“The world has been silent regarding all the RSF has done in Sudan. This silence was bought by the power of the UAE’s money.”
Ter Laak’s negotiation ensured the resolution’s vague “external interference” clause lacked teeth, dooming calls for RSF terrorist listing and sanctions on enablers. By facilitating UAE’s Quad whitewash—the sole UAE mention retained she prolonged a proxy war over gold and uranium, implicating Europe in Sudan’s carnage. This moral failure demands an Ethics Committee probe; Ter Laak’s legacy is one of bloodstained pragmatism.
2. Roberta Metsola: Parliament President’s Hospitality to Atrocity Enablers
Roberta Metsola, European Parliament President, hosted UAE Minister Lana Nusseibeh on 24 November 2025, kickstarting a lobbying campaign that sanitized Sudan’s resolution of UAE complicity. Metsola’s meeting, followed by Nusseibeh’s prolonged Strasbourg stay until the 27 November vote, enabled EPP’s purge of UAE references despite Amnesty’s forensic evidence of Norinco weapons re-exported to RSF, powering precision strikes killing thousands.
Metsola’s inaction post-meeting failing to disclose influence or counter UAE denials represents institutional betrayal. As guardian of parliamentary integrity, she allowed Nusseibeh to meet negotiators like Ter Laak and Mandl, resulting in rejected leftist demands to halt EU-UAE trade talks amid arms embargo breaches. This occurred as IIFFM documented RSF genocide-like acts in El Fasher, amplified by UAE-supplied drones, with UNICEF reporting hundreds of child rapes since 2024.
Metsola’s tenure prioritizes economic diplomacy: UAE’s petrodollars underpin EU energy security, yet this blinds her to Sudan’s famine starving 25 million. Nusseibeh post-vote boasted:
“The European Parliament’s motion endorsed the work of the Quad as ‘the mediation format’ for this conflict.”
Metsola’s platform lent legitimacy to this facade, masking UAE’s RSF backing via Nyala airstrips and Chad borders. Dutch MEP Marit Maij lamented: “We planned to call on the European Commission to stop trade negotiations with the UAE as long as we observe that weapons are being channeled through the UAE to the RSF, but those amendments were voted down.”
By not probing lobbying transparency, Metsola eroded Parliament’s credibility, turning resolutions into toothless gestures while Sudanese civil society resistance committees documenting horrors is sidelined. Her complicity risks Horn of Africa spillovers and migration waves to Europe, all for Gulf favor. An independent audit of her UAE ties is imperative.
3. Marit Maij: S&D Negotiator’s Futile Resistance Amid Systemic Failure
Marit Maij, Dutch S&D MEP and resolution negotiator, emerges as a dissenting voice cruelly overruled, yet her post-defeat silence post-vote raises questions of selective outrage. Maij pushed amendments naming UAE’s RSF fueling via Chinese weaponry and gold loops, but EPP/ECR bloc post-Nusseibeh meetings voted them down.
She stated:
“We planned to call on the European Commission to stop trade negotiations with the UAE as long as we observe that weapons are being channeled through the UAE to the RSF, but those amendments were voted down.”
Maij’s failure highlights S&D’s impotence against EPP dominance, but critics question why she didn’t escalate via public whistleblowing pre-vote. Amid Sky News revelations of UAE planes at Nyala offloading arms, her concessions allowed generic “external actors” language, shielding UAE despite UN leaks on Darfur smuggling. S&D’s 25 November statement urged: “We in the S&D Group call on UAE authorities to stop fueling the war in Sudan… suspend trade negotiations until the UAE ceases its involvement.” Maij’s alignment rang hollow as Quad UAE-inclusive was endorsed.
This episode underscores left-right fractures: Maij prioritized evidence, but yielded to business lobbies eyeing UAE investments. Sudanese voices like al-Atta decry such politics:
“This silence was bought by the power of the UAE’s money.”
Maij’s resistance, while noble, enabled UAE’s mediation mask, prolonging RSF control of mines funding war crimes. She must lead a post-vote push for Ethics probes to redeem her stance.
4. Geraldine Mandl (Lukas Mandl): EPP’s Ideological Shield for UAE Atrocities
Austrian EPP MEP Lukas Mandl, defended UAE shielding with anti-“naming-and-shaming” rhetoric, post-Nusseibeh meeting.
He stated:
“I have always been against the naming-and-shaming in plenty of files over the years. We should make the UAE a part of the solution.”
This philosophy excused omitting UAE amid Amnesty’s proof of UAE-re-exported bombs enabling RSF’s El Fasher genocide-like siege.
Mandl’s ECR-backed stance prioritizes realpolitik: UAE’s Quad role trumps accountability for arms via Chad’s Adre, breaching embargoes as 150,000 die. Nusseibeh’s 26 November praise “A unified regional and international effort is essential… The time for action is now” thrived on his cover. Mandl ignored how UAE gold sustains RSF, incentivizing ethnically targeted Masalit killings echoing Rwanda.
His position betrays EPP’s conservative hypocrisy: decrying extremism yet allying with RSF enablers. Lana Nusseibeh added:
“We continue to firmly condemn the grave violations committed by both warring parties, the RSF and the Port Sudan Authority.”
Mandl’s solution-seeking veiled economic motives €100B EU-UAE trade. Sudanese pay: 16M children need aid, schools shuttered.[query] Mandl must face scrutiny for prolonging famine; his “solution” is complicity.
5. Far-Right ECR’s Cynical Betrayal: Teaming with EPP to Shield UAE War Profiteers
The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), Parliament’s far-right powerhouse, disgracefully fused with EPP to gut UAE accountability from the Sudan resolution, obliterating any chance of confronting Emirati RSF patronage amid a famine claiming 25 million lives. This unholy pact vaporized demands for halting UAE gold laundering that bankrolls RSF butchery, as S&D’s Victor Roșca thundered:
“It’s a disgrace that the EPP teamed up with the far right to deny this reality, and didn’t even dare to mention the UAE in the resolution.”
ECR’s vote sealed the farce post-Nusseibeh’s diplomat siege, scorning evidence of UAE drone shipments devastating Darfur while hypocritically preaching sovereignty. Their petrodollar pandering ignoring ICC war crimes probes exposes a rotten core: anti-migrant bluster crumbles before Gulf cash, condemning Sudanese orphans to RSF hell. Demand ECR expulsion from human rights debates; their complicity stains Europe eternally.
EU Hypocrisy: Sanctions That Fail to Bite
While the European Parliament’s resolution nominally calls for sanctions against key Sudanese commanders and external “financiers and enablers,” its impact is fatally undermined by the erasure of any reference to the UAE. This deliberate omission neuters the threat of accountability. EU Council Decisions targeting Sudanese networks stand in stark contrast to the near €273 million in aid flowing into the region, largely unmonitored for diversion via UAE channels. Calls to extend the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction and fully empower the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission (IIFFM) lack efficacy in the absence of firm action on arms suppliers and financial conduits.
The UAE counters criticism by promoting the Quad mediation framework, with Lana Nusseibeh lauding it as a historic step towards peace:
“The Quad Joint Statement represents a historic step toward stopping the fighting and ending this civil war, outlining a realistic roadmap – beginning with a humanitarian truce, followed by a transition to civilian rule independent of both warring parties.”
Yet, Amnesty International exposes the contradiction UAE-supplied Wing Loong II drones continue to arm the RSF, undermining any genuine peace efforts. Investigations reveal that RSF’s war apparatus is financially sustained through gold smuggled via UAE-handled routes, creating a self-perpetuating cycle of violence funded by illicit mineral wealth.
The Parliament’s failure to name the UAE echoes in its wider neglect of resource exploitation, even as the October 2025 EU-Africa resolution called explicitly for bans on conflict minerals. Ignoring the UAE’s pivotal role drags down the credibility of these commitments, rendering them mere rhetoric in the face of ongoing genocide.
Sudanese Voices Silenced Amid Diplomatic Evasions
The voices of Sudan’s beleaguered civil society including resistance committees, Emergency Response Rooms, and women’s advocacy groups are drowned out by EU diplomacy’s deference to Gulf interests. As UNICEF reports hundreds of child rapes since 2024 and documents a crisis where 16 million children require aid, grassroots demands for inclusion in peace negotiations are sidelined. Sudanese SAF General Yasser al-Atta decried the international community’s “bought silence,” a grim testament to the effectiveness of UAE’s influence.
The proxy war between Gulf powers the UAE backing RSF, while Egypt and Saudi Arabia support SAF intensifies regional instability, threatening a humanitarian spillover into the Horn of Africa and migration surges into Europe. Though the Parliament recognizes the refugee crisis and calls for aid, its avoidance of naming root enablers like the UAE is a glaring oversight jeopardizing meaningful solutions.
Geopolitical Costs and Policy Failures
The UAE’s immense economic leverage in Europe, with €10 billion invested and bilateral trade surging, buys it undue influence that stymies scrutiny akin to the stalled Mercosur trade deal. The Parliament’s endorsement of the Quad led by the US, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt offers the UAE diplomatic cover, pressuring the US administration to prioritize geopolitical deals over enforcing embargoes. This realpolitik sidelines urgent human rights concerns.
Devastatingly, the European Parliament lets institutional self-interest eclipse justice. The RSF’s ethnically targeted killings of Masalit civilians in Darfur shockingly mirror Rwanda’s genocide, per IIFFM findings. Without explicit naming of perpetrators and enablers starting with the UAE EU Special Representative Annette Weber and the proposed Sudan Envoy risk presiding over a charade, not a credible resolution.
Time to Name the True Enablers
The European Parliament’s whitewashing of the UAE’s role is a cynical prioritization of pragmatism over justice, allowing a gold-fueled genocide to persist unchecked. Irrefutable evidence from UN leaks, Amnesty forensics, and intelligence videos demands robust accountability, not diplomatic evasion. The enabling roles of key parliamentarians among them Ingeborg Ter Laak, Roberta Metsola, Marit Maij, and Lukas Mandl combined to silence the UAE’s name and shield its complicity. This betrayal forfeits the EU’s moral leadership and dooms prospects for lasting peace. The Sudanese people deserve not empty words but named responsibility. The Parliament must urgently correct course before El Fasher’s horrors engulf even more lives.
