THE uae is fueling genocide in sudaN.

The NBA is partnering with the UAE.

It’s time to Act.

Sign the Petition: No Sponsor of Genocide – NBA Must End Partnership with Emirates

The NBA is partnering with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for sponsorship of its in-season “Emirates NBA Cup” tournament. But while people’s eyes are on the court, the UAE is actively arming a group that is committing genocide in Sudan.

By elevating the UAE brand as a symbol of excellence and victory, the NBA is polishing and protecting the UAE’s global image. The NBA is letting itself be used as a pawn to distract people from what the UAE is doing in the world. This partnership is not innocent—it is sportswashing and it hides the suffering of millions of Sudanese people behind a trophy. 

Don’t let the Emirates Cup divert attention from the massive slaughter sponsored by the UAE in Sudan.

Sign the petition to tell the NBA, as long as the UAE fuels genocide in Sudan, LET THIS BE THE LAST EMIRATES CUP!

We need to talk about the uae’s role in the genocide in sudan.

What’s Happening in Sudan?

Millions of people in Sudan today are facing famine, mass atrocities, and the largest forced displacement and humanitarian crisis in the world.

Since April 2023, Sudan’s war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) armed group has become a nightmare. 

Both sides have committed war crimes and the United States has determined that the RSF is committing genocide. Both the SAF and RSF have indiscriminately attacked civilians, weaponized aid access, and used starvation as a weapon of war.

Yet little has been done to end this brutal war.

So what does that have to do with the UAE?

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) is committing genocide in Darfur today, much as their predecessor, the Janjaweed, did twenty years ago. The world is expressing outrage to the latest massacres in El Fasher.

The UAE is directly supplying arms, cash, and diplomatic cover to the RSF’s rampage.

To LEarn more, watch the video below

UAE's Dark Secret: Fueling Atrocities in Sudan
narrated by Don Cheadle

A Growing Movement

“Given the UAE’ s large role in stoking the crisis in Sudan, it is imperative that outside actors compel the Emirati leadership to change course…If it faces sufficient pressure, Abu Dhabi might conclude that its support for the RSF is more trouble than it's worth.”

— Macklemore via Instagram

“Cultural figures and sports figures saying ‘we're not going there’ counts for much, much more than a threat of trade sanctions or financial penalties.  I think, interestingly, the [threat to them] of soft power is much stronger, and has much greater potential, than hard power.”

— Alex de Waal in BBC Interview

  • "Foreign backers of the RSF and SAF–including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Russia, Iran, China and governments in the immediate region–have fueled and profited from the conflict and legitimized the monsters destroying Sudan"

    Senate Foreign Relations Committee

  • "The UAE cares immensely about how it curates its global reputation. The double game the UAE is playing is to project that public image while, out of public view, providing arms to his genocidal paramilitary group."

    Jeremy Konyndyk, The Globe and Mail

  • “Under the guise of saving refugees, the United Arab Emirates is running an elaborate covert operation to back one side in Sudan’s spiraling war — supplying powerful weapons and drones, treating injured fighters and airlifting the most serious cases to one of its military hospitals, according to a dozen current and former officials from the United States, Europe and several African countries.”

    Declan Walsh, Christoph Koettl and Eric Schmitt, New York Times, September 29, 2023

  • “According to information gathered by the Panel from sources in Chad and Darfur, the allegations were credible. Several sources in eastern Chad and Darfur, including among local native and administrative leaders and armed groups operating in those areas, reported to the Panel that, several times per week, weapons and ammunition shipments were unloaded from cargo places arriving at Am Djarass airport, then loaded on trucks.”

    Final Report of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan, S/2024/65, January 2024

  • “The outside actor that bears the most responsibility for the starvation and ethnic cleansing, however, is the United Arab Emirates. As the RSF perpetrates genocidal attacks on civilians in Darfur and other regions, Abu Dhabi is delivering arms to the militia. Meanwhile, unscrupulous companies smuggle Sudanese gold into Emirati markets, fueling the conflict.”

    Sudan's Manmade Famine, ForeignAffairs.com

  • “A U.S. ally promised to send aid to Sudan. It sent weapons instead.”

    Nicholas Bariyo and Benoit Faucon, Wall Street Journal, August 2023

  • “Based on the State Department’s careful analysis of the law and available facts, I have determined that members of the SAF and the RSF have committed war crimes in Sudan. I have also determined that members of the RSF and allied militias have committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.”

    U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, December 2023

  • “Sudan is witnessing the world’s largest displacement crisis, over 10 million Sudanese have fled their home. Nobody cares, the world is keeping silent”

    Galal Yousif Goly

  • It is imperative that the United States not provide weapons to countries that are in turn providing military support to the RSF and complicit in its genocidal actions. The United States cannot turn a blind eye to its aiding and abetting the suffering in Sudan.

    Senator Chris Van Hollen

  • The U.S. has the opportunity to end this war and bring stability to Sudan by withholding weapons to the UAE and essentially cutting off the supply chain to the RSF.

    Representative Sara Jacobs

PRESS & MEDIA

Past Actions

In October 2024, we called on the NBA to cancel their pre-season Boston Celtics and Denver Nuggets games in Abu Dhabi on October 4 and 6 in solidarity with the people of Sudan. 

700+ individuals signed on to hold the UAE accountable for their role in mass atrocities in Sudan and the NBA’s complicity in these crimes.

Though the NBA refused to cancel, our movement continues.