OPINION: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) have long been one of the main clients of the French arms industry. Their relations with France and the European Union are increasingly drawing controversy, particularly due to the use of European weapons in conflicts such as those in Libya, Yemen, and Sudan.
By Sébastien Boussois, PhD in Political Science (*)
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) have long been one of the top clients of the French arms industry, and this has been the case for many years. The IDEX military exhibition, held every two years in Abu Dhabi and now one of the most important defense trade shows in the world, was created in 1993 with French support. This year again, French Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu naturally made the trip. More than 1,000 companies gather there, and at each edition, lucrative contracts worth several billion dollars are signed.
In a global context of growing distrust towards the United States, where the European Union is seeking new reliable economic partners, Brussels has just signed a free trade agreement with the United Arab Emirates, betraying part of its own principles. Indeed, Abu Dhabi’s regional policies and the use of European weapons in conflict zones raise serious concerns.
France is no better off. Paris knowingly sells high-tech equipment to the UAE, making it one of its main partners for the past three decades. French companies, regularly confronted with allegations from NGOs like Amnesty International accusing them of selling weapons to “merchants of death,” often evade responsibility by claiming ignorance or unwillingness to know the final destination of the weapons purchased by the UAE. Yet, it is an open secret that much of this equipment, as we know, ends up in Libya, Yemen, and more recently Sudan.
A recent investigation by France 24 Observers [1] managed to trace the chaotic path of many weapons manufactured across the European Union, weapons that are prohibited from being sold to active conflict zones like the aforementioned countries. France is particularly singled out.
Among these war-torn countries is Sudan, which has been ravaged by conflict for nearly two years, pitting General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as “Hemedti,” of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) against the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. From Libya to Yemen, through Somalia and now Sudan, the UAE has been seeking to overthrow regimes that do not align with its interests.
Recently, the current Sudanese authorities accused the UAE of complicity in genocide and have taken the matter to the International Court of Justice in The Hague [2].
Since the outbreak of armed conflict between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April 2023, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been at the center of numerous controversies regarding their role in this devastating war.
Officially neutral, they have nonetheless been accused by several international reports [3] of actively supporting the RSF. United Nations documents, field testimonies, and journalistic investigations [4] suggest that the UAE supplied weapons, ammunition, and logistical support to the RSF, often through indirect routes via Libya, Chad, or the Central African Republic.
Many of the weapons used on the ground appear to originate from the Emirati company IGG (International Golden Group), the main supplier of the UAE’s armed forces and a preferred intermediary for European arms manufacturers, particularly French ones.
The strategic trade relationship between Abu Dhabi and Paris is marked by strong industrial partnerships and growing concerns over the consolidation of the defense sector in the UAE.
A notable example is the cooperation agreement signed with Nexter at the IDEX 2023 exhibition, aimed at modernizing the Emirati army’s Leclerc tanks. This partnership dates back to the initial delivery of 436 Leclerc tanks in the 1990s. Moreover, IGG has partnered with Safran to establish a joint venture, “Vision for Optronics & Navigation,” specializing in optronics and navigation systems, further strengthening the French industry’s presence in the region.
In January 2024, IGG was incorporated into the Emirati defense conglomerate EDGE Group, an initiative designed to consolidate the UAE’s industrial defense capabilities. This integration now allows EDGE to expand its end-to-end defense solutions portfolio.
In 2014, a report by Amnesty International [5] revealed that IGG had signed a $46 million contract with the government of South Sudan to supply arms, in collaboration with Ukrainian and British entities. Even at that time, this contract enabled the supply of weapons to various armed groups involved in the South Sudanese conflict.
More recently, the France 24 investigation highlighted that European munitions, initially destined for the UAE, were found in the hands of the RSF in Sudan. These munitions are believed to have been transferred through networks involving Emirati companies, although IGG’s exact role in these transfers remains unclear.
The ongoing trial at The Hague is expected to shed light on the exact role of the Emiratis in this endless conflict: a confidential United Nations report, leaked in April 2025, documented regular cargo flights between the UAE and Chad, suspected of transporting weapons to the RSF.
Although these flights were deemed suspicious, UN experts have not yet been able to confirm the exact nature of the cargo [6].
[1] https://www.france24.com/fr/afrique/20250421-enquete-armes-europeennes-soudan-volet-5-igg-edge-france-emirats
[2] https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2025/04/10/le-soudan-et-les-emirats-arabes-unis-s-affrontent-devant-la-cour-internationale-de-justice_6593736_3212.html
[3] https://emiratesleaks.com/eu-calls-for-action-on-uaes-sudan-genocide-support/
[4] https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250304-the-uae-should-stop-its-violations-of-the-un-arms-embargo-in-darfur/
[5] Repris dans une plus large étude publiée en 2017 https://www.amnesty.org/fr/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/ACT3071152017ENGLISH.pdf
[6] https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/apr/14/leaked-un-experts-report-raises-fresh-concerns-over-uaes-role-in-sudan-war
(*) PhD in Political Science, researcher specializing in the Arab world and geopolitics, lecturer in International Relations at IHECS (Brussels), associate member of CNAM Paris (Security and Defense Team), the Institute for Applied Geopolitical Studies (IEGA Paris), the Nordic Center for Conflict Transformation (NCCT Stockholm), and the Geostrategic Observatory of Geneva (Switzerland).
