US congressional Democrats on Thursday sought to block arms sales to the United Arab Emirates over its alleged involvement in Sudan’s civil war and concern about cryptocurrency ties, the same day Republican President Donald Trump announced $200 billion in new deals with the Gulf State.
Democrats Chris Murphy, Chris Van Hollen, Brian Schatz, Tim Kaine, and Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, introduced resolutions of disapproval in the Senate that would block three arms sales to the UAE.
Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, and Sara Jacobs, the top Democrat on the panel’s Africa subcommittee, introduced resolutions of disapproval in the House of Representatives.
The senators cited concerns that have been raised about Abu Dhabi arming Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitaries in Sudan’s civil war. The UAE has repeatedly denied such charges.
They also cited the announcement by MGX, an investment firm backed by the Emiratis, that it would use a stablecoin launched by Trump’s World Liberty Financial crypto venture for its $2 billion investment in crypto exchange Binance.
In a statement, Murphy said he wanted to force a full Senate debate on what he termed “nuclear grade corruption.”
The House members said the Trump administration had decided to move ahead with the UAE sales despite Meeks’ hold on such transactions over his concerns about the conflict in Sudan.
“The Trump administration’s end-run around Congress is irresponsible and will further embolden the UAE to violate the UN’s Darfur arms embargo and continue its support for the RSF and the killing of innocent civilians,” Meeks and Jacobs said in a statement.
