An intricate arms supply network with the United Arab Emirates as its
hub has been balancing the power between state and non-state actors
in Africa and the Middle East. The estimated overall value of the global
drone industry is around $45 billion. However, as Andreas Krieg writes,
Abu Dhabi is not alone.
In the deserts of Sudan, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group once
known for its brutality on horseback, now wages war with precision-guided drones.
Embroiled in a devastating conflict with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) under the
command of the UN-backed government, the RSF have managed to all but erase the gap
between an infantry-based militia and a conventional state military. Their secret? A
modular, unmanned air force quietly exported by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) through
a vast regional network of arms suppliers and logisticians.
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