UAE welcomes U.S. terrorist designation for Muslim Brotherhood in Sudan

In this Monday, July 1, 2013 file photo, an Egyptian protester ransacks the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in the Muqatam district in Cairo. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

The UAE welcomed on Monday the United States’ decision to label the Muslim Brotherhood in Sudan a terrorist organization.

The designation, which will be effective in a week, comes after the U.S. in January made the same declaration for several other Brotherhood branches, including in its historic base of Egypt.

“The United Arab Emirates welcomed the announcement by the administration of US President Donald Trump to designate the Muslim Brotherhood in Sudan as a terrorist organization,” the foreign ministry said in a statement on X.

The UAE has been widely accused of arming the Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) -- at war with Sudan’s army since April 2023 -- but has repeatedly denied the allegations.

Sudan’s army has also been accused of links to the Brotherhood, which it denies.

The UAE has long opposed the Muslim Brotherhood and its political Islam.

Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has a complex relationship with Islamists in the country and relies on them for support, but has denied having Brotherhood members in his government.

The RSF also welcomed Washington’s decision.

The group said the move “reflects growing awareness of the scale of suffering the Sudanese people have endured during the past years”.

The paramilitary group has widely been accused of committing mass atrocities in Sudan, with the United States saying last year that the RSF had carried out acts of genocide against black Sudanese.

The designation was likewise welcomed by a Sudanese civil coalition led by former prime minister Abdalla Hamdok, who said it was “a reflection of the will of the vast majority of the Sudanese people who rose up” in the 2019 revolution.

The revolution led to a coup that toppled longtime Islamist-military autocrat Omar al-Bashir, but Hamdok and his civilian government were themselves then overthrown in a 2021 coup led by Burhan and his erstwhile ally, RSF chief Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

Announcing the new designation, the U.S. accused the Brotherhood in Sudan of using “unrestrained violence against civilians to undermine efforts to resolve the conflict”.