Inside the Digital Frontline — How Social Media Accounts Linked to Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces Operate from Within the United Arab Emirates
A Dark Box investigation has uncovered a sprawling digital infrastructure linking influential social media accounts associated with Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces to operations based inside the United Arab Emirates. The discovery, made possible by new geolocation indicators recently introduced on the X platform, reveals a pattern of coordinated online activity emerging far from the territories under the paramilitary group’s control. These findings challenge the public denials issued by the United Arab Emirates and open a new chapter in understanding how information warfare is being waged far beyond Sudan’s borders.
The first signs of the network came as X, formerly known as Twitter, began displaying a feature showing where an account is based and from which region it connects. Almost immediately, accounts tied to political and institutional figures within the Rapid Support Forces ecosystem appeared linked to the Emirates. Among the most prominent is the account of the interior ministry of the Government of Peace and Unity, the newly formed parallel administration backed by the paramilitary group. According to the platform’s new feature, the account itself operates from inside the United Arab Emirates.
Another account traced to the Emirates belongs to Gony Mustafa Abubakr Sharif, the individual chosen by the RSF-backed administration to serve as its representative at the United Nations. His X activity, viewed by followers as official communication from the parallel government, is also routed from within the Emirates. Two further accounts, belonging to the administration’s foreign affairs ministry and prime minister’s office, show their location as West Asia, a broad regional indicator that excludes Sudan but includes the Gulf. Users on X have claimed that these accounts originally displayed the United Arab Emirates as their base before shifting to the more ambiguous West Asia label. While this cannot be independently verified, it has intensified suspicion surrounding the true origin of the accounts.
The trend does not end with official pages. Several influential individual figures connected to the Rapid Support Forces are also operating from within Emirati territory. Faris El-Nur, a key adviser to the RSF’s parallel government and a former negotiator for the paramilitary group, runs his account from the Emirates while appearing to connect through the United Kingdom’s app store. Similarly, Sudanese politician Ibrahim El-Mirghani, a known supporter of the RSF-aligned administration, lists his location as Sudan, yet the platform confirms his account is based in the Emirates.
One of the most striking cases involves a user identifying himself as Imad, an individual claiming to be a doctor from the city of Columbus in the United States state of Ohio. His account has been a consistent purveyor of pro-RSF narratives, linking the Sudanese army to the Muslim Brotherhood and militant jihadism while simultaneously amplifying pro-Israel messaging. The new X feature reveals that this account, too, is operated from inside the Emirates. Disinformation specialist Marc Owen Jones previously flagged the account as a conduit for coordinated propaganda.
The network extends further. Jedo Musa, an analyst known for producing videos about Sudan’s war, frequently claims the Sudanese army is intertwined with Islamist networks while reposting content from Emirati-linked figures. His profile claims he resides in Sudan, yet X displays the account as based within the Emirates. Several accounts tied to the RSF-controlled West Darfur civil administration, as well as a page linked to Algoney Dagalo, the brother of RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, are also based inside the Emirates.
Further complicating the picture, American intelligence sources shared tracking data indicating that associates of Abdul Rahim Hamdan Dagalo, brother and deputy to RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, have repeatedly traveled from Zalingei and Nyala in Darfur to Addis Ababa, where they boarded private aircraft bound for Abu Dhabi. These travel routes, according to sources speaking to Dark Box, reinforce suspicions of high-level coordination between RSF leadership and networks operating within the Emirates.
The digital campaign stretches across platforms. Using Facebook’s profile transparency feature, investigators identified multiple RSF-linked pages administered from the Emirates. Ibrahim El-Mirghani’s Facebook presence is managed in part from Emirati territory, while the prime minister’s office of the parallel administration likewise shows at least one administrator based inside the United Arab Emirates. Another figure, Hozuifa Abonoba, described as the head of an advisory council to the RSF military, has Facebook administrative access originating from Sudan, the Emirates and two additional hidden locations. His X account, despite listing Nyala as his home, is also based in the Emirates.
Behind these movements lies a larger battle between two regional blocs. According to multiple sources monitoring the information battlefield, accounts tied to the Emirates and accounts tied to Saudi Arabia have escalated their online war. Emirati-linked profiles are focused on discrediting journalists and organisations documenting RSF atrocities, while Saudi-linked accounts amplify the same investigative content.
This information war mirrors the physical one. Earlier reporting revealed intricate supply networks through which the Emirates allegedly provided weapons, drones and intelligence support to the Rapid Support Forces, a claim the Emirates continues to deny. These supply chains stretch across Libya, Chad, Uganda and Somalia, where logistics routes through Bosaso and Berbera have been tracked. American intelligence agencies have also reportedly assessed an increase in Chinese-made drones and weapons supplied to the RSF through Emirati channels.
As the conflict deepens, the online ecosystem emerging from within the Emirates appears to play a central role in shaping narratives, obscuring evidence and bolstering the political legitimacy of the RSF’s parallel institutions. What emerges from the Dark Box investigation is a transnational information apparatus, nested inside the Emirates, amplifying a paramilitary power engaged in one of the most devastating conflicts in modern Sudanese history.
