Sudan Barq: a suspected Emirati influence campaign targeting Sudan
On 30 September 2024, Sudan’s army rejected Emirati accusations that the army bombed the UAE ambassador’s residence in Khartoum. Five days later “evidence” of the damage appeared through a video published by an outlet called Sudan Barq.
The tweet reads: “Evidence proving that the Sudanese army targeted the headquarters of the head of the UAE diplomatic mission in Khartoum. The attack represents a flagrant violation of diplomatic norms. This incident may give a negative image of the general security situation in Sudan, which may lead to a decline in international confidence in Sudan’s ability to achieve real stability.”
The outlet, which has over 200,000 followers including ambassadors and UN agencies, faces credible accusations that is affiliated to the UAE and supportive of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia.
On 3 June 2023, prominent Sudanese social media user Mohamed Abdulrahman alleged that Sudan Barq accounts are managed from the UAE, adding that it ignored the Sudanese civilian uprising (2018-2023) and gradually started aligning with the RSF in a tweet shared over 120 times.
The tweet was posted in response to Sudan Barq uploading a video titled ‘Life returns to normality in the East Nile’, a district where mass displacement was triggered by the RSF’s occupation.
Translation: “Barq Sudan” accounts are managed from the Emirates and were the ones attacking Qatar. It started focusing on sports, and they held competitions to increase the number of followers in the latter half of 2018. They pretended they couldn’t see the December movement, and gradually began to align with the Rapid Support Forces with fluctuations in tweets, until this was completed in the first part of 2020.”
But Sudan Barq’s management did not obscure the page’s location on Instagram, where it has over 3,000 followers and 14,000 posts. Clicking on the ‘about this account’ button will show how Sudan Barq’s Instagram account is based in the UAE.
Nonetheless, as indicated in an investigation of Sudan Barq’s Twitter posts before the war, the account has the hallmarks of a pro-UAE influence campaign aiming to align the discourse on Sudan with the UAE’s agenda. Sudan Barq regularly published tweets that promoted the UAE’s policies and achievements, alongside adopted the UAE’s geopolitical positions. This included a series of attacks on Qatar during a diplomatic crisis between the two Gulf states. It is worth noting that, for most of those tweets, Sudan was not mentioned at all and had little relevance to the “reports” being published.
Keyword search: the UAE
A keyword search for Sudan Barq tweets featuring ‘the Emirates’ reveals how the outlet adopted positive tones about the UAE’s internal and foreign policies. Due to the amount of times the term is used in Sudan Barq tweets, we have only selected tweets that did not even mention Sudan. The tweets had a theme. Interspersed with routine announcements about UAE internal policy were reports that promoted Emirati development and innovation, alongside its geopolitical stances.
2020
In 2020, Sudan Barq sought to promote the UAE’s internal and foreign policies – often with little relevance to Sudan.
- 14 March 2020: a tweet announcing that the UAE has temporarily suspended Visas in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- August 15 2020: An announcement that Arab and international states welcome the peace agreement between Israel and the UAE.
- September 15 2020: The Emirati, Israeli and Bahraini flags imposed onto the Arabic word for peace, with the caption “the signing ceremony of peace agreements between [the aforementioned states] begins at the White House”.
- October 15 2020: A picture of UAE and Israeli flags together with the caption “Tel Aviv ratifies the peace agreement between Israel and the UAE”.
2021
During 2021, pro-UAE tweets were that had no relevance to Sudan were posted, instead promoting Emirati charity, development and innovation, and refuting allegations relating to human rights abuses.
- 14 April 2021: A thread promoting the Emirates Red Crescent concluded with “we ask God Almighty on this Holy Month to forgive and have mercy on Sheikh Zayed [the UAE’s founding father]”.
- 24 July 2021: A tweet announcing that the Arab Union for Human Rights “confirmed that the UAE has been interested in sponsoring the principles of human rights in accordance with the Universal Declaration”.
- 25 July 2021: An infographic showing that the UAE ranks 12th globally for indicators of social development and quality of life.
- 15 September 2021: Promotion of UAE ruler Mohamed bin Zayed’s (MbZ) visit to France.
2022
Similarly, pro-UAE tweets from Sudan Barq in 2022 projected the UAE as an innovative and promoted internal UAE developments.
- 13 July 2022: Promotion of an MbZ speech addressed to UAE citizens.
- 10 November 2022: During the COP Climate Summit in Cairo, a link to an article with a tweet reading “The Emirates experience inspires the world”.
- 29 November 2022: A link to an article with a tweet reading ‘The UAE… immortal achievements and promising prospects’ which used the hashtag #UAE51 which promoted the 51th anniversary of the UAE’s founding day.
- 25 November 2022: A tweet promoting the UAE’s first mission to the moon.
Anti-Qatar campaign
Another key sign that Sudan Barq is an influence campaign aiming to promote the UAE’s geopolitical interests are tweets with the search term Qatar in Arabic. Between 2017-2011, a diplomatic crisis erupted after the UAE accused Qatar of supporting Islamist groups in the region. During that time frame, Sudan Barq would publish a series of attacks on Qatar. Those tweets also had a theme. Tweets that did not mention Sudan focused on accusing Qatar (and Turkey) of supporting Islamists and extremism in the region. There were also critical reports on the topic of football ahead of Qatar hosting the 2022 World Cup. Tweets that mentioned Sudan aimed to portray Qatar as a destabilising force in the country.
Allegations about Qatar relating to Sudan
In 2019 and 2020, Sudan Barq’s reports on Qatar often revolved around allegations that Qatar supports terrorism and Islamists in Sudan.
- 9 May 2019: Report that Qatar’s investment in Sudan was intended to protect the Muslim Brotherhood and develop a centre for exporting terrorism protected by Turkey.
- 31 May 2019: According to Sudan Barq sources, communication devices were seized for Al-Jazeera’s offices in Sudan that were delivered to Omar al-Bashir supporters and linked directly to Qatar.
- 30 July 2019: An infographic and report that Qatar is creating a hub of terrorism in Khartoum.
- 26 June 2020: A report that the “Brotherhood camp” of Qatar and Turkey “refused” to provide any donations to Sudan at the Berlin donor conference.
- 30 August 2020: A report suggesting that Qatar aims to infiltrate the Juba peace negotiations in favour of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Allegations about Qatar’s regional involvement
In a series of tweets that did not even mention Sudan, Sudan Barq’s reports aimed to portray Qatar and Turkey as destabilising Sudan’s region through their alleged support of terror, Islamism and political violence.
- 25 May 2019: A report that Qatar and Turkey’s support for Islamist groups makes their alliance a danger to Middle East security and stability.
- 23 July 2019: A report that Qatar’s ambassador to Somalia was involved in planning terrorist bombings.
- 30 September 2020: A report that Qatar, “through its media arm Al-Jazeera”, is leading a Facebook campaign to influence the elections in Somalia.
- 29 July 2021: A thread alleging that Qatar interferes in Tunisian affairs in support of the Islamist Ennahda movement.
- 31 July 2021: An infographic titled ‘Qatar’s financing of terrorist groups’.
- 5 October 2021: A thread alleging that Qatar is buying votes from members of the Somali House of Representatives.
- 19 February 2021: A video reportedly showing Somali government forces “using armored vehicles provided by Turkey and Qatar killing peaceful demonstrators, instead of using them to combat the terrorism of the Al-Shabaab movement”.
Allegations about Qatar relating to football
Sudan Barq also published a series of negative reports covering the theme of football ahead of Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 World Cup.
- 18 June 2019: A report that the former president of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Michel Platini was arrested as part of a corruption investigation into the decision to award Qatar the 2022 World Cup.
- 10 March 2019: A report that Qatar made bribes in order to “buy” the 2022 World Cup.
- 15 May 2020: A report that Facebook removed fake accounts praising Qatar and targeting [UAE-owned English football club] Manchester City.
