Sudan representative says UAE backed drone strikes on Port Sudan, urges Security Council action

A Sudanese representative recorded in a meeting transcript accused the United Arab Emirates of supporting drone strikes that struck Port Sudan and other civilian infrastructure and urged the United Nations Security Council to take stronger action.

The representative said the strikes targeted Port Sudan's airport, oil facilities and hospitals, asserted the attacks were launched from or directed by UAE military bases across the Red Sea and named the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as partners in the operations. The speaker also said observers recovered a delivery-verification document listing the Emirati armed forces as the end user for large shipments of mortar rounds that have appeared in Sudanese combat footage.

Why it matters: The representative framed the attacks as part of a broader UAE strategy to expand influence in the Red Sea and Horn of Africa and said disruption of Port Sudan could shift regional power dynamics, affect shipping routes and worsen the humanitarian crisis for displaced people sheltering there.

The transcript records repeated allegations that long-range, weaponized unmanned aerial vehicles were used against Port Sudan. The representative referred specifically to MQ-9-type systems and to the use of "suicide drones" launched from the Red Sea, and said some launches and GPS-jamming events were observed on May 4. The speaker said: "The suicidal drones, attack that hit Port Sudan or targeted Port Sudan ... came from across the Red Sea from, 1 of The UAE military base." (Speaker 1)

The speaker told meeting participants that an observer team from France obtained a delivery-verification certificate listing the Emirati armed forces as the end user for dozens of munitions shipments. The transcript lists alleged quantities voiced by the speaker: 15,000 mortar bombs of an 81-millimeter type, 2,780 of a 60-millimeter type, 30,000 of an 82-millimeter type and 11,004 of a 20-millimeter type. The speaker identified two firms in the documentation he cited: an Emirati firm identified in the transcript as "International Golding Group PG PJSC" and a Bulgarian firm shown as "ARM/BG Limited." The speaker attributed these details to the France observer team.

The representative criticized the Security Council's choice to hold the recent discussion in a closed or limited format, saying it reduced Sudan's opportunity to present what the speaker called evidence and legal analysis and accusing other delegations of seeking to silence Sudan. He said the council's format and some delegations' actions "seek to undermine the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security." (Speaker 1)

On questions from other participants, the speaker said the United States had publicly condemned the attacks and the RSF, and that Sudan was in contact with an envoy appointed from a Middle Eastern country and with the U.S. State Department. The speaker described a "blueprint" Sudan had prepared to engage a U.S. administration and said those channels were being used for diplomacy and to press for pressure on the UAE to stop transfers of lethal arms to fighters in Sudan.

The transcript records no formal Security Council vote or resolution in this excerpt. The speaker urged the council to "live up to it to the expectations of the international, wide international and massive focus of the war of aggression in Sudan" and to exert pressure on the UAE to stop supplying arms and training to mercenaries and proxies. (Speaker 1)

The claims in the transcript are presented as the speaker's allegations and attributions to observer teams; the transcript does not record independent verification or a Security Council decision in response during this excerpt.

The representative closed by calling for greater U.N. engagement and for international partners to apply pressure on the UAE to stop supplying lethal assistance to parties in Sudan.