Washington (Somalia Today) — Jim Risch, the chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Tuesday he was alarmed by reports of a United Arab Emirates-linked training hub for Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Ethiopia, warning that alleged supply routes via Somaliland could escalate a war already destabilising the region.
“I am concerned about reports of a UAE-linked training hub for genocidal RSF thugs in Ethiopia with possible supply routes via Somaliland,” Risch said in a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter.
“These moves would be escalatory and further reason to designate the RSF as an FTO, bringing consequences for this regional proxy support,” he added, referring to the US designation for a foreign terrorist organization.
Risch’s intervention comes as Washington faces pressure to confront alleged external involvement in Sudan’s conflict, which has drawn in neighbouring states and Gulf actors and fuelled fears of wider spillover.
‘Secret camp’ allegations
The remarks followed a Reuters investigation citing multiple sources who alleged Ethiopia is running a secret camp in its western Benishangul-Gumuz region, near the Sudan border, to train thousands of RSF fighters.
The sources alleged Emirati financing and support — including trainers and logistics — claims the United Arab Emirates denied.
Reuters said satellite imagery showed construction beginning months earlier and activity increasing later in 2025, with fighters and vehicles arriving at the site.
The report also cited claims that a nearby airfield in Asosa was undergoing upgrades, including for drone-related operations, as part of wider cooperation — assertions the UAE disputed.
Risch provided no evidence in his post, but his language reflected growing concern among US lawmakers that outside “proxy” support is sustaining the war, complicating diplomatic efforts and widening the conflict’s footprint in the Horn of Africa and along Red Sea trade routes.
Sudan has been at war since April 2023, when a power struggle between the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces erupted into nationwide fighting that has killed tens of thousands, displaced millions, and triggered what aid agencies describe as one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
The violence has been especially acute in Darfur, where the RSF and allied militias have repeatedly targeted civilians in ethnically driven attacks, according to multiple allegations.
Washington has already taken a hard line against the RSF. The United States has said it determined RSF forces and allied militias committed genocide in Sudan and has imposed sanctions on RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti, as well as on networks accused of sustaining the paramilitary’s war effort.
An FTO designation would mark a major escalation in US policy, widening criminal liability for material support and tightening financial restrictions, though the step is politically sensitive given the RSF’s links across the region.
Somaliland in the spotlight
Risch’s reference to Somaliland is particularly significant because he has previously been one of the more prominent congressional voices calling for stronger US engagement with the region.
In 2022, he backed legislation — the “Somaliland Partnership Act” — that urged expanded US cooperation and directed the State Department to report on and assess the feasibility of a closer partnership, while stopping short of calling for US recognition.
That history makes Tuesday’s warning potentially awkward for Somaliland’s supporters, as it links the territory — even indirectly — to allegations of transit routes connected to the Sudan war.
Diplomats and analysts say such an association risks complicating Somaliland’s lobbying push in Washington, where it has long presented itself as a relatively stable partner on security and maritime issues.
Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991 but remains unrecognised internationally. It sits on the Gulf of Aden, a strategic shipping corridor, and has attracted foreign investment, including DP World’s major port development in Berbera.
Allegations referenced by Risch have circulated for months in diplomatic and investigative reporting, including claims that northern Somali ports and airstrips — including around Bosaso and Berbera — may serve as staging points for weapons transfers or logistics linked to Sudan.
Those assertions remain contested, and actors implicated in such reports have issued denials.
Still, Risch’s statement sharpens a pivotal argument: As the RSF remains sanctioned and implicated in atrocities, credible evidence of expanded training or supply networks — especially those involving third countries — could intensify calls for US action, further pressuring regional partners entangled in the Sudan crisis.
