UAE: Rapper Macklemore cancels concert over Emirati support for Sudan's RSF
US rapper Macklemore has cancelled a planned concert in the UAE over the country's support for the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan.
The concert, slated for 4 October in Dubai's Coca-Cola Arena, had provoked outcry from campaigners who said Macklemore's public support for the Palestinian cause - articulated in his song Hind's Hall - stood in contrast to his willingness to play for the Emiratis.
Abu Dhabi has faced allegations of funding the RSF, a paramilitary force rights groups say is responsible for killing, raping, and looting of civilians, and the ethnic cleansing of Massalit and other non-Arab populations in West Darfur. In May, Human Rights Watch said the violence could constitute genocide.
The UAE has previously denied "supplying weapons or ammunition to any of the warring factions in Sudan".
In a post on Saturday on Instagram, Macklemore said he'd faced pressure from campaigners "to cancel the show in solidarity with the people of Sudan and to boycott doing business in the UAE for the role they are playing in the ongoing genocide and humanitarian crisis.
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“I know that this will probably jeopardise my future shows in the area, and I truly hate letting any of my fans down,” read the post. “I was really excited too. But until the UAE stops arming and funding the RSF I will not perform there.
“I have no judgment against other artists performing in the UAE. But I do ask the question to my peers scheduled to play in Dubai: If we used our platforms to mobilize collective liberation, what could we accomplish?”
More than a year of war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF has caused the biggest displacement crisis in the world, with around 10.7 million people forced to flee according to the UN, and a rapidly deteriorating food security situation across Sudan.
At least 18,800 people are thought to have been killed in the fighting, with widespread reports of human rights abuses, including sexual assault.
In May, the Dutch think tank Clingendael Institute warned that 2.5 million people in Sudan could die from hunger by September, with 15 percent of the population of Darfur and Kordofan likely to be the worst affected.
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