DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) American rapper Macklemore said he canceled an upcoming October concert in Dubai over the United Arab Emirates role in the ongoing genocide and humanitarian crisis in Sudan through its reported support of the paramilitary force thats been fighting government troops there.

The announcement by Macklemore reignited attention to the UAEs role in the war gripping the African nation. While the UAE repeatedly has denied arming the Rapid Support Forces and supporting its leader Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, United Nations experts reported credible evidence in January that the Emirates sent weapons to the RSF several times a week from northern Chad.

Sudan plunged into chaos in mid-April 2023 , when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders broke out in the capital, Khartoum, and spread to other regions including Darfur. Estimates suggest over 18,800 people have been killed in the fighting, while over 10 million have fled their homes. Hundreds of thousands are on the brink of famine.

At a contentious U.N. Security Council meeting in June , Sudans embattled government directly accused the UAE of arming the RSF, and an Emirati diplomat angrily told his counterpart to stop grandstanding. The UAE has been a part in ongoing peace talks to end the fighting.