Egypt quietly stepped in this spring to rein in SAF deputy commander Yasser al-Atta’s public broadsides against the United Arab Emirates, according to two Sudanese political sources cited by Darfur24. The sources say a meeting was held in Cairo in May between Egyptian intelligence officials and al-Atta, with eastern Libyan figures aligned with Khalifa Haftar present. The ask was explicit: stop the escalatory media attacks on Abu Dhabi and route any grievances through diplomatic channels. The sources did not disclose how al-Atta responded.
Tensions between Khartoum and Abu Dhabi spiked after Port Sudan-based SAF junta leadership accused the UAE of backing the Rapid Support Forces. In May, Sudan’s Defense Council moved to sever ties; the sources add that the UAE later escalated by suspending air and sea links from Sudan, including commercial traffic.
A second source confirmed the Cairo meeting and said senior figures in Khartoum are displeased with al-Atta’s tone, making a de-escalation likely. Since the early months of the war, al-Atta has targeted Abu Dhabi—along with Nairobi and N’Djamena—in increasingly hard-line statements, at one point threatening to use air power against airports in N’Djamena and Um Jaras.
