Nathaniel Raymond from Yale urges Sweden to leverage its influence to halt the United Arab Emirates' arms support to the RSF militia in Sudan. Satellite images reveal ongoing massacres in Al-Fashir, where over 200,000 people are trapped. Swedish ministers defend exports but emphasize sanctions against involved companies.
Nathaniel Raymond, head of the Humanitarian Research Lab at Yale School of Public Health, leads efforts to produce satellite images documenting massacres in Al-Fashir, Sudan. Since the war erupted in April 2023, his team has issued 60 reports warning the world, including the US government, with little impact. In recent weeks, violence has escalated: at least 460 patients were killed at Saudi Maternity Hospital on October 28, and images show blood trails, bodies, and mass graves. Over 200,000 civilians are trapped in the city, with escape routes to areas like Guernsey and Kurnei blocked.
Raymond criticizes Sweden's arms exports to the United Arab Emirates, which, according to the Wall Street Journal, arms RSF with high confidence from US intelligence agencies. Sweden exported defense materiel worth over six billion SEK to the UAE last year, totaling nearly 20 billion over ten years, mainly Saab's Global Eye radar systems approved in 2016. 'Sweden should use its unique influence to send a public message to the United Arab Emirates that all arms sales must stop until support for RSF ends,' Raymond tells Aftonbladet.
Associate Professor Johan Brosché at Uppsala University agrees, stating Sweden can pressure the UAE by publicly conditioning exports. 'As long as trade continues as usual, the cost for them is not high enough,' he says. Aid and Foreign Trade Minister Benjamin Dousa (M) responds that exports are strictly regulated by ISP and consist of defensive systems like signals intelligence, with no information on use in Sudan. Sweden has sanctioned UAE-based firms like Red Rock Mining Company and is pushing for more via the EU. Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard (M) has raised the Sudan issue with the UAE's foreign minister and at the UN, emphasizing Sweden's strong support for Sudan's population amid the world's largest humanitarian crisis.
