Netanyahu map shows RSF 'friendly' to Israel and UAE, backing for separatist movements

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled a map of the wider Middle East showing his country and the UAE aligned with a paramilitary in Sudan, accused of committing genocide, and separatists in Libya, Yemen and Somaliland. The map, which carried the logo of Germany's Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Institute, will not surprise regional watchers, but it could prove awkward for some of Israel’s regional partners and cement suspicions among Arab states. Israel and the UAE were shown as part of a “Hexagon Alliance”. The map showed Greece, Ethiopia and parts of India aligned with them. But it also showed a swath of southwestern Sudan as friendly to the UAE and Israel. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) control southwestern Sudan. United Nations experts and dozens of media reports, including from Middle East Eye, have revealed extensive Emirati support for the Sudanese paramilitary, which is led by former Janjaweed leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo and has been widely accused of committing genocide in Darfur. The UAE has officially denied backing the RSF. The map was part of Netanyahu’s unveiling on Sunday of a new security doctrine that emphasises preemptive strikes and the establishment of "buffer zones" on Israel’s borders. Read more: Netanyahu map shows RSF 'friendly' to Israel and UAE, backing for separatist movements