The Left party has strongly criticized Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) regarding the upcoming visit to Berlin by the President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed. According to The Left’s leader, Ines Schwerdtner, Merz is effectively “rolling out the red carpet” to Mohammed bin Zayed, despite the fact that the UAE provides weapons and mercenaries to the brutal RSF militia in Sudan.
Schwerdtner asserted that this militia is responsible for massacres of civilians and the gravest crimes in Darfur. She argued that anyone who champions the UAE as a “strategic partner” under these conditions cannot remain silent about the situation in Sudan.
The UAE is already facing criticism for supporting the RSF in Sudan. A UN investigation group has accused the militia of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. Zayed’s meeting with Merz is scheduled for Thursday.
The Left is demanding that the Chancellor make “clear and public statements” concerning the massacres in Darfur. Schwerdtner told “Die Welt” that the policy of quiet, closed-door diplomacy has evidently failed. She insisted that Merz must confront Mohammed bin Zayed with these accusations and make it unequivocally clear that supporting a genocidal militia means the UAE cannot be a normal strategic partner for Germany. The Chancellor, she added, must explicitly state that the Sheikh bears complicity in the ethnic cleansing in Darfur.
Furthermore, Schwerdtner called it “particularly cynical” that the current government is apparently seeking to use the visit to connect the UAE with German defense companies. The alternative, she argued, should be the opposite: Germany must halt arms deliveries to the Emirates and finally apply serious diplomatic pressure. It should not be allowed that German weapons ultimately fuel a war and severe human rights abuses in Sudan.
