carney’s UAE Visit Under Scrutiny as Canadian-Made Armoured Vehicles Appear in Sudan conflict
International Trade Minister Mary Ng,accompanied by Special Envoy to Sudan,David Carney,recently travelled to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as concerns mount over the flow of Canadian-made armoured vehicles to Sudan,and the UAE’s alleged role in supplying them to the warring Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Reports surfaced in August detailing the presence of Canadian-made armoured vehicles in Sudan. These vehicles are allegedly manufactured by Streit Group, a company operating a large manufacturing plant in the UAE. Photographs have shown Streit Spartan personnel carriers being used by the RSF in the Darfur region. Amnesty International reported in July on the RSF’s use of Streit Gladiator and Cougar armoured vehicles, some of which the Sudanese army claims to have captured in North Darfur.
“There have been reports of Canadian weapons on the ground in Darfur for, I think, a decade now,” said Michael Bueckert of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, an organization advocating for a more effective arms embargo on Sudan. “Canada continues to export increasing amounts of weapons to the UAE … and there’s no evidence that Canada is taking efforts to cancel permits to or to take any real measure to stop this.”
Bueckert criticized Canada’s current approach, stating, “so they’re not really taking this seriously.” He explained that Canada has only imposed an embargo on direct arms sales to Sudan, while failing to adequately address the flow of weapons through third parties. “We don’t know exactly were the RSF is getting them, but the UAE is the prime suspect given its history in the region, as well as the fact that Canadian companies based in the UAE produce these things,” he said.
Bueckert pointed to a 2020 partial arms embargo imposed by Ottawa on Turkey as an example of a stronger response Canada could take, recognizing that “there’s no way to sell arms to UAE and be sure that they won’t end up in the arsenal of the RSF.”
Global Affairs Canada and the Emirati Embassy in Canada, along with the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, did not respond to CBC News’ requests for comment regarding Canada’s position on the war in Sudan and the Emirati role in it.
Experts suggest the UAE might potentially be more resistant to international pressure than Turkey, a NATO member. According to one source, “It’s really protected by Western countries and permanent members of the UN security council.”
The source continued, “None of the major states, including the United States or Canada or the United Kingdom and France are willing to to call out the UAE for backing the RSF. Oftentimes they say, you know, we are against external involvement in the Sudan conflict, but without naming the UAE.”
The UAE’s influence extends beyond its financial resources. It has provided diplomatic assistance to Western nations, including aiding canada during the 2021 evacuations from Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover, and normalizing relations with Israel through the 2020 Abraham Accords, earning favour with the United States.
Another source revealed that, “From private conversations,” the UAE sometimes “puts pressure not to even call out the actions of the RSF. And so you will see that sometimes, officials and ministers of foreign affairs will say, ‘we condemn the atrocities in El Fasher’ without naming the perpetrators.” This, the source stated, highlights the difficulty in holding the UAE accountable.
