With the Emirates NBA Cup underway, basketball fans may wonder why the NBA is being pressured to suspend its relationship with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While the UAE is sponsoring this in-season tournament in the United States, it is also sponsoring genocide, mass killings, rape, and starvation in Sudan.
On April 15, 2023, war broke out between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and its paramilitary, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), for control of the country. Well over 150,000 have died, over 15 million people have been forcibly displaced from their homes, and more than 30 million, or 65% of Sudan’s population, are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance. Sudan is the largest displacement and humanitarian crisis in the world, and yet this human catastrophe is largely ignored.
A recent New York Times podcast by Declan Walsh notes that President Trump has privately told officials he is appalled by what he has seen and is asking what the U.S. can do to intervene. Trump has likely seen reports by the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab showing satellite images of the earth stained with blood after the October 28, 2025 attack by the RSF on El Fasher, the largest city in Darfur located in the western region of Sudan. He may have seen videos taken by RSF soldiers as they brutally attacked and killed civilians, including patients and health care workers in local hospitals.
Prior to the attack, El Fasher was under siege for 18 months by the RSF, causing a man-made famine and severe malnutrition. Some were able to escape El Fasher after the attack, but the low numbers arriving at a nearby town are troubling. Secretary of State Rubio spoke with humanitarian groups, and they are concerned many have died inside El Fasher or they are so sick and malnourished they cannot leave. The United Nations has confirmed those trapped inside El Fasher include the elderly, the disabled, and the wounded.
Sudan has an important port on the Red Sea. The Nile River, a critical source of water for Egypt, runs through Sudan. Sudan has valuable land for agriculture and livestock, and it is rich with resources, particularly gold. Countries in the region, such as Chad, South Sudan, and Egypt have hosted refugees fleeing Sudan. Yet, it is these same countries plus Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran, Russia, Libya, the UAE and others that have facilitated and/or directly supported SAF or RSF (and sometimes both) in conducting the war and committing mass atrocities.
The aforementioned podcast by Declan Walsh, is titled, “The Gold Rush Behind a Civil War: Conflict has shattered Sudan. Yet, the gold trade is booming.” Walsh notes, “There’s evidence that the UAE is arming one side in the war while funding the other.” This is why the NBA should suspend its relationship with the UAE. The Emirates NBA Cup isn’t just a game. It’s one of many efforts by the UAE to distract the world and whitewash its image. The Emirates Cup is a bloody one, and NBA teams should have no interest in “catching it” (the slogan for the tournament).
In 2004, I was in El Fasher with then-Senator Sam Brownback and my Chief of Staff, Dan Scandling. What we witnessed was terrible, but what is happening now in most of Sudan is much worse. I am haunted by the thought that some of the victims of the current crisis are the women and children we met over 20 years ago. When we returned to the U.S., we urged then Secretary Colin Powell to designate the situation in Sudan as genocide, which the U.S. did later that year. I urge Secretary Rubio to do the same now.
The U.S. is leading efforts to achieve a humanitarian ceasefire in coordination with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, a group known as the Quad. The appointment of a special envoy to Sudan may be helpful, perhaps a retired general who was with AFRICOM, since the crisis requires dealing with two generals heading up SAF and the RSF. I am glad to hear Secretary Rubio state that the U.S. knows who is supplying weapons to fuel the war and that pressure is being applied by the United States at the highest level. That pressure on the UAE specifically should include revoking the contracts and authority of retired U.S. military working for the UAE until the country stops arming and supporting the RSF and SAF.
Christians are a minority in Sudan, and they suffered greatly under the 30-year Bashir regime, which imposed Sharia law. The 2019 non-violent revolution that ousted Bashir and established a transitional civilian-led government had planned to establish a National Commission for Religious Freedom. The 2021 coup by SAF and RSF followed by the war between the two militaries in 2023 put Christians, along with the rest of the nation, in grave danger. Rev. Daramali Abudigin stayed in El Fasher as long as he could to assist over 130 families from various Christian denominations, but his church was attacked by the RSF in September, and he fled along with others. The Catholic Bishops of Sudan and South Sudan recently issued a statement calling for dialogue to end the violence while also harshly criticizing military leadership, saying they “lack respect for human dignity; they are harmful to the core and maliciously selfish.”
The United States has been a friend to the people of Sudan, and now South Sudan, for decades. That close friendship is needed now more than ever. It is important for each of us to regularly contact our elected officials and to register our support for their engagement in ending the war and supporting the Sudanese people’s long struggle for genuine freedom, peace, and justice. Consider how you can support those inside Sudan in finding creative ways to provide humanitarian assistance in the middle of a war and genocide. And finally, but most importantly, please pray every day for Sudan.
Frank Wolf is a former congressman and commissioner on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).
