Sudan declares 15 UAE diplomats persona non grata

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Sudan has declared 15 staff from the United Arab Emirates embassy persona non grata, ordering them to leave the country within 48 hours, the Sudanese state news agency said on Sunday.

The news agency said Sudan’s foreign ministry summoned the acting UAE Charge D’ Affaires and informed her of the decision. No further details were given.

Late last month, a top Sudanese general said the UAE had been sending supplies to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the powerful paramilitary force at war with the army.

In response, a UAE official said that from the outset of the war, the UAE had “consistently called for de-escalation, a ceasefire, and the initiation of diplomatic dialogue” in Sudan.

The war began in mid-April. It has displaced more than 6.5 million people and triggered waves of ethnically driven killings in Darfur that have been blamed on the RSF and allied militias.

The RSF has denied carrying out ethnic cleansing in Darfur.