- Emirates posted a promo photo of its luxury A380 business class cabin on X
- The post drew outrage due to UAE's alleged arms supply to Sudan's paramilitary
- US intelligence reports increased UAE weapons transfers to Sudanese rebels accused of atrocities
A glossy promo photo of Emirates' business class has ignited outrage online. The airline's recent post on X showcased its luxurious A380 cabin, complete with lie-flat seats, personal minibars, and wide entertainment screens, captioned, "This is how we do Business", followed by a halo and cloud emoji.
However, the timing was unfortunate. The UAE, Emirates' home country, has been accused of supplying arms to Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a group implicated in atrocities in Darfur.
Social media users flooded the comments with anger and sarcasm. One user posted "BoycottTheUAE" alongside a video appearing to show RSF fighters laughing on a battlefield strewn with dead bodies and wrecked vehicles. Another wrote, "Arab zionists". Many others shared disturbing images from Sudan's war zones in protest.
According to a Wall Street Journal report published Tuesday, US intelligence agencies have tracked an uptick in weapons transfers from the UAE to the RSF. The paramilitary, accused of genocide in Darfur, reportedly gained momentum after March when Sudan's army, backed by Iran, Turkey, and Egypt, reclaimed control of Khartoum.
RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemeti, is believed to maintain close ties with the UAE. His family's commercial operations are based in Dubai, a hub allegedly used to smuggle gold mined from RSF-controlled territories in Darfur.
Sudan's civil war, now more than two years old, erupted in April 2023 when the Sudanese Army and the RSF, who were once partners in power, turned on each other amid disputes over merging their forces during the country's faltering democratic transition.
