Arya News - With hundreds of billions of pounds in family wealth and at least a trillion more under their control, Abu Dhabi’s Al Nahyan brothers are quite possibly the world’s richest siblings.
With hundreds of billions of pounds in family wealth and at least a trillion more under their control, Abu Dhabi’s Al Nahyan brothers are quite possibly the world’s richest siblings.
As comfortable in California as in the palaces of the Middle East, they have helped turn the United Arab Emirates from what was a marginal tribal federation until independence from Britain in 1971 into a powerful petro-state and pivotal Western ally.
Over the past two decades, the UAE has emerged as a strategically placed hub for investment, finance and energy, and a key partner in Washington’s regional security strategy. It has countered Iran, championed regional normalisation with Israel and hosts more American warships than any port outside the United States.
Yet a relationship vital to both Britain and the US is under strain after persistent allegations, strongly denied in Abu Dhabi, that the UAE is fuelling Sudan’s civil war by backing a faction accused of widespread atrocities. The war in Sudan has exposed a tension at the heart of Emirati foreign policy: a state that prides itself on stability and modernisation stands accused of enabling chaos.
US president Donald Trump signs the guestbook at the Qasr al Watan (Palace of the Nation) as Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan looks on approvingly - Win McNamee/Getty
Diplomats say the controversy threatens to complicate ties with the West just as the three most powerful Al Nahyan brothers expand an ambitious business empire across Africa in their quest to project Emirati influence beyond the Middle East.
Seen as indispensable to Western political and economic interests, the brothers glide easily through the corridors of American power.
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi’s Sandhurst-trained hereditary ruler and president of the UAE, is among Washington’s most influential foreign voices. Close to Donald Trump, who has called him a “magnificent man”, he shifts between White House visits and incognito trips to Disney World with his grandchildren.
His spy chief brother, Sheikh Tahnoon , works out with Mark Zuckerberg, mixes with Silicon Valley’s elite and has carved out a niche in the global AI revolution. Their younger sibling, Sheikh Mansour – an accomplished equestrian with a yacht the size of a naval destroyer – oversees a sprawling sports empire with Manchester City at its heart.
Sheikh Mansour attends the 2023 Champions League final between Manchester City and Inter Milan - Martin Rickett/PA
Astute and tightly aligned, the brothers have combined forces to steward the UAE’s wealth, bolster its value to the West and extend the global reach of a state that, within living memory, survived primarily on camel herding and pearl fishing.
A test of alliances
But the calamity in Sudan, the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, has caused unease – although few Western officials are willing to challenge Abu Dhabi openly.
As fresh details of the slaughter in the Sudanese city of El Fasher emerged last month, Yvette Cooper was in Bahrain calling for an audience at the IISS Manama Dialogue, the Middle East’s principal annual security summit, to respond to the “truly horrifying” situation in Sudan.
“Just as we united in support of President Trump’s peace initiative in Gaza, we need a new international drive to end the war in Sudan,” she said.
Yet she and her Western and Arab counterparts have largely avoided directly addressing the UAE’s alleged role in the conflict.
Since April 2023, Sudan’s civil war has unleashed devastation unmatched anywhere: US estimates suggest more than 400,000 dead and millions more driven into famine-ridden camps.
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Foreign powers are accused of arming both sides, but none more than the UAE, said to be the principal backer of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) , a paramilitary group previously accused by Washington of genocide. These allegations, largely based on Western intelligence assessments, have not been independently verified and Abu Dhabi rejects them outright.
Scrutiny intensified in late October when the RSF seized El Fasher, capital of the Darfur region, after a grinding 18-month siege. Survivors describe fighters descending “like a medieval army”, raping, pillaging and strewing the streets with corpses. Western officials say the UAE supplied drones, howitzers and mortars to the RSF, stepping up deliveries after the militia was forced from Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, in March.
Abu Dhabi denies any involvement. “We categorically reject any claims of providing any form of support to either warring party since the onset of the civil war, and condemn atrocities committed by both,” an Emirati official said.
Whether or not it has played a role in Sudan’s war, the UAE sits at the centre of an extraordinary push to project power and secure influence across Africa.
Emirati power in Africa
Emirati companies are sweeping up farmland, mines and ports from Morocco to Madagascar. Critics liken the drive to a colonial venture; admirers say the UAE is injecting capital, building infrastructure and helping dilute China’s financial dominance.
At the core of this strategy is a company whose rise has startled analysts.
A Sudanese protester holds up a defaced image of Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan - Marco Di Gianvito/Zuma Press
Less than a decade ago, the International Holding Company (IHC) was a small fish-farming business with 40 employees. Today it is the Middle East’s second-largest listed firm, worth £182bn – more than Shell – with 86,000 staff, 1,300 subsidiaries and stakes in everything from India’s Adani Group to Elon Musk’s SpaceX . It is even eyeing the Ivy and Annabel’s in London as it seeks a foothold in the British hospitality sector.
But its impact is greatest in Africa, where it has acquired strategic assets from copper and tin mines in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to vast tracts of farmland in Sudan and Egypt.
IHC’s transformation accelerated after Sheikh Tahnoon became chairman in 2020.
Campaigners and diplomats say the firm blurs the boundary between state and corporate power. One Western official likens it to the “East India Company”, a modest trading house that grew into a quasi-imperial force, an accusation the company denies.
“IHC is a publicly listed company operating within the governance, compliance, and disclosure standards set by the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange and by relevant regulators in every jurisdiction in which we operate,” a company spokesperson said.
“Our investment decisions follow structured commercial, legal, and risk-management processes, with a focus on long-term value creation and responsible business practices across all markets. As with all portfolio activities, we remain guided by transparency, regulatory compliance, and ongoing due diligence.”
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Given the size of the agricultural tracts acquired by Emirati companies such as IHC – much of whose output is exported to the UAE – some African critics see the trend as a new form of external dominance.
Accusations of ‘neo-colonialism’
The criticism is sharpest in Sudan, where IHC is reportedly the largest foreign agricultural operator, jointly controlling farmland roughly the size of Cambridgeshire. The produce was meant to be shipped to the UAE via an Emirati-built port under a £5bn deal; neither project has progressed because of the war.
“People in Africa, especially Sudan, speak of neo-colonialism because outsiders are taking huge stakes in mining, energy and agriculture all sectors where the UAE is heavily involved,” says Kristian Ulrichsen, a Middle East expert at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy in Texas.
“These companies are controlled by a single family. It’s extractive because the benefits don’t flow to the local community; they flow back to the investor. In that sense, it’s akin to a colonial-style operation.”
The UAE rejects this, insisting its aim is to integrate Africa into global markets.
“What we are trying to do is connect the Global South to the Global North,” says Mohamed Baharoon, director-general of B’huth, a Dubai-based research institute that provides policy support to the Emirati government.
“States in the Global South, particularly Africa, are fragmented and benefit from the connectivity the UAE can provide. The UAE’s investment strategy is purely about establishing a connectivity agenda.”
The UAE is believed to be the principal backer of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) - AFP via Getty
The UAE’s footprint is nevertheless striking. Emirati firms now hold farmland in at least a dozen African states, mining assets in seven more and a chain of ports funnelling exports to the Emirati port of Jebel Ali, reinforcing its status as a major logistics hub. Since 2019, the UAE has earmarked more than £100 billion in African projects, overtaking China as the continent’s biggest investor.
If Sheikh Tahnoon is the financial architect of this push, Sheikh Mansour – whose media arm was involved in an abandoned bid for The Telegraph – plays a more overt political role.
The Manchester City owner, so reclusive he rarely attends matches, has close relationships with several African leaders, including two of the regions most prominent warlords.
Weeks before Sudan’s civil war erupted, Mansour hosted Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the RSF commander better known as Hemedti, for the second time in two years. The official explanation – a meeting to discuss “close bilateral relations between two brotherly countries” – has since been questioned.
In June, the New York Times, citing unnamed officials, reported that US intelligence agencies had determined through phone intercepts that Dagalo had “a direct line” to Sheikh Mohammed and Sheikh Mansour.
The UAE’s relationship with Dagalo dates back to at least 2015, when the RSF sent fighters to support the Saudi-Emirati intervention in Yemen.
The number of civilian deaths in the Sudanese civil war is thought to be in the hundreds of thousands
That same year, Mansour met Khalifa Haftar, the Libyan warlord who controls the east of the country, in the first of three publicly recorded meetings.
UN investigators have accused the UAE of arming Gen Haftar’s forces and funding Russian mercenaries – allegations Emirati officials deny.
Analysts cite several reasons the UAE might risk a reputation it has worked hard to cultivate.
Sudan’s gold, arable land and Red Sea access are obvious prizes for a state prioritising food security and trade routes. Alleged military involvement in Sudan and Libya would also extend Emirati influence – part of a more assertive approach that has earned the UAE the nickname “Little Sparta”.
The UAE is also competing with regional rivals for sway in the Horn of Africa. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey and Qatar all support the Sudanese army.
“Sudan is where the Arab and African worlds meet and, for Gulf leaders, it carries real strategic weight,” says one regional analyst. “So you see a real power scramble there.”
Ideology is another factor. Emirati officials viewed the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011 as empowering Islamist movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood . Secular strongmen like Dagalo and Haftar are seen as buffers against political Islam.
Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan enters Saint George’s Hall during a welcoming ceremony at the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow - Getty
Sheikh Mohammed’s antipathy to Islamism is long-standing. As a child, he reportedly rebelled against a Muslim Brotherhood tutor. He has told US officials that democracy would struggle in the region because Islamist parties would dominate free elections: “In any Muslim country, you will see the same result. The Middle East is not California.”
Why the West stays quiet
Despite widespread allegations, Western states remain cautious about publicly criticising the UAE. Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, issued the most pointed rebuke yet last month, warning: “Something needs to be done to cut off the weapons and support the RSF is getting... We know who the parties are. This needs to stop.”
Few expect more direct pressure. The Al Nahyan brothers sit close to the apex of American political and commercial networks. Donald Trump has met and dined all three. Sheikh Tahnoon – who once lived in southern California, where he developed a taste for flotation chambers and jiu-jitsu – has forged deep ties with the US technology giants including Nvidia, Microsoft and OpenAI as part of the UAE’s drive to become a global AI hub.
For the Trump administration, the UAE is therefore not only a strategic ally but also a critical partner in the technologies reshaping the world. Little wonder, critics argue, that there is little appetite to constrain its ambitions in Africa.
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