Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard (M) states that there are no indications Swedish weapons sold to the United Arab Emirates have ended up in Sudan's civil war. The statement was made in Sveriges Radio's Studio Ett. The UAE has been accused of supporting the RSF militia in violation of the UN arms embargo.
In a segment on Sveriges Radio's Studio Ett on November 5, 2025, Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard (M) addressed Sweden's arms exports to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in connection with the Sudan conflict. According to her, there are no signs that weapons exported from Sweden to the UAE have leaked to the war zone in Sudan.
The United Arab Emirates has been accused of supporting the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), one of the warring parties in Sudan's civil war since April 2023. This would violate the UN arms embargo on Sudan. The Swedish Inspectorate for Strategic Products (ISP), which oversees arms exports, reports that Sweden sold weapons and materiel worth over six billion kronor to the UAE in 2024 – more than to any other country. The exports consisted mainly of airborne radar systems.
Malmer Stenergard emphasized that Sweden has no indications of leakage: “We have no signs at all that this type of leakage would occur. That is, that weapons exported from Sweden would end up in some form of conflict in Sudan.”
When asked if Sweden should halt arms exports to the UAE to exert pressure, the minister replied that dialogue is important. She pointed to EU sanctions against companies in the UAE that have contributed to the war in Sudan. “If one were to take that reasoning to its extreme, we would stop all forms of trade with all countries that do not think exactly like we do. Then we would be quite alone,” she said.
Nothing in the sources indicates contradictory information regarding the nature of the exports or the minister's statement.